Live Blog: Oscars 2021 – the 93rd Academy Awards Ceremony

01:44: To update you on some recent awards: Best International Feature went to Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round.

The other nominees were Quo Vadis, Aida?, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Better Days, Hong Kong; Collective, Romania; The Man Who Sold His Skin, Tunisia.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom also won awards for both makeup and costume design. In an interview on the red carpet, Viola Davis said she wanted to be “authentic” to her character and wear the same kind of clothing Rainey wore while she was alive. Authentic means “true or accurate.” She wanted to look just like the woman she was portraying in the movie.

See an example of the clothing and the makeup worn by Davis in her film.

 

01:30: Daniel Kaluuya wins the Best Supporting Actor award for his work in Judas and the Black Messiah.

 

The other nominees were Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7; Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami; Paul Raci, Sound of Metal; LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah.

01:02: Actor and director Regina King opens the show by walking into the theater with an Oscar statue. She is speaking about the recent verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis, Minnesota police officer who was found guilty of murdering George Floyd.

She directed a nominated film – One Night in Miami.

She is discussing how the show is able to happen without the audience wearing masks.

King starts off by noting the films that were nominated for their original writing. The words and story of a movie are known as a screenplay.

The winner for original screenplay is the writer of Promising Young Woman. Emerald Fennell spoke about how she got started writing and thanked all of the people that worked on the movie in just 23 days. 

 

01:00: Welcome to VOA Learning English’s coverage of the 2021 Academy Awards, known as the Oscars. The awards event did not happen in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year’s event is taking place in Los Angeles, California. It is the 93rd year of the ceremony.

It is happening in person, unlike some other awards shows during the pandemic. However, instead of in a closely packed theater, the event is happening at two main locations: the Dolby Theater at the Hollywood and Highland area and Union Station, a train station that has been shown in over 150 movies.

Steven Soderbergh, a well-known film director, is in charge of this year’s show.

The show will not have live music as in past years. The music performances were done ahead of time and shown on television before the start of the ceremony.

Here are the films being considered for Best Picture, the biggest award of the night.

The Father, Mank, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Judas and the Black Messiah, Nomadland, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and The Sound of Metal.

Many experts think Nomadland, a movie made by Chloe Zhao and featuring Frances McDormand, may win.

Take a look at a short video, known as a trailer, below.

Many of the stars are attending the event in person. See some images from their arrivals below.

He is being considered for his role as a rock music drummer losing his ability to hear. Riz Ahmed arrived with his wife and stopped to fix her hair. His movie is The Sound of Metal. See the video.

 

This year’s awards ceremony being called the most diverse, ever.

A story by the Associated Press recorded all of the first-timers and variety of nominees in 2021 compared to past years. It is a big change compared to six years ago, when the Oscars were criticized on social media for being too white. The “Oscars so white” hashtag circulated after all 20 acting nominees were white.

This year, for example, nine actors who are not white are nominated.

VOA Learning English will be following the show until the end. Be sure to stay with us here but also look for more material – including photos and videos -on our Facebook page.

 

Dan Friedell wrote this blog for Learning English with contributions from The Associated Press. Caty Weaver was the editor.

 

Source : https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/live-blog-the-2021-oscars-awards-ceremony/5866345.html