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The Oscars is one of the biggest Arts and Cultural events in the world. It celebrates cinema and all the talents put together to make great and amazing movies. Every year by the end of February, the Academy awards organize a special evening with a show filled with emotions, laughs and tears. Basically welcome to the film movie industry. Here are some facts you probably did not know about the Oscars and below, the complete list of nominees and winners.

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The Oscars statuette, 2’947 is the number.

The Oscars statuette is probably one of the most recognizable awards in the world. According to the Academy Awards, until this year, 2’947 statuettes were presented during the 87 ceremonies hold so far. This year 24 new statuettes will find a legitimate and talented new owner. The first time the golden knight personnification was given to someone was in the initial awards banquet on May 16th 1929. Emil Jannings was named Best Actor for his amazing performance in “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh“.

The Statuette was originally designed by MGM Art Director Cedric Gibbons. It is supposed to represent a  Gold knight holding a sword and standing on a reel of film. The film reel features five spokes, signifying the five original branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers. Although the statuette remains true to its original design, the size of the base varied until 1945, when the current standard was adopted. During the years, the statuette got some revamps and this year, for the 88th edition, it will have another makeover. The statuettes, which had been manufactured by Chicago company R.S. Owens since 1982, will now be made by Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry in Rock Tavern, New York, known for its collaborations with artists and architects like Louise Bourgeois. As part of the switch, the statuette is going back to its roots with a design that incorporates details from George Stanley’s original creation.

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Since 1950, the statuettes have been legally encumbered by the requirement that neither winners nor their heirs may sell the statuettes without first offering to sell them back to the Academy for US$1. If a winner refuses to agree to this stipulation, then the Academy keeps the statuette. Academy Awards not protected by this agreement have been sold in public auctions and private deals for six-figure sums. In December 2011, Orson Welles’ 1941 Oscar for Citizen Kane (Best Original Screenplay) was put up for auction, after his heirs won a 2004 court decision contending that Welles did not sign any agreement to return the statue to the Academy. On December 20, 2011, it sold in an online auction for US$861,542.

Who is voting for the Oscars? I am not!

In order to vote for the Best Motion Picture or Best Director, you need to be part of the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This membership will give you the rights to vote. In the first edition of the ceremony, only 230 voters participated in the awards allocation. Today they are 6’291 active members with voting rights. Can anyone be member of the Academy? Not exactly. To get into the Academy, first of all, you have to work in film production, according to the organization’s membership rules. So no press allowed, which makes the Academy Awards distinct from many annual-awards groups. A candidate has to be sponsored by two current members of the organization’s branch, which they hope to join. The Academy has 17 branches ranging from acting, directing, and writing to producers and executives. The largest segment of members is made up of actors, giving them an outsize influence on what ultimately wins. Here are the conditions to join the Academy if you are an Actor:

From Academy Bylaws:

Article III, Section 1.  Membership shall be by invitation of the Board of Governors.  Invitations to active membership shall be limited to those persons active in the motion picture arts and sciences, or credited with screen achievements, or who have otherwise achieved distinction in the motion picture arts and sciences and who, in the opinion of the Board, are qualified for membership.

To be considered for invitation to membership in the Actors Branch of the Academy, an individual must:

(a)  have a minimum of three theatrical feature film credits, in all of which the roles played were scripted roles, one of which was released in the past five years, and all of which are of a caliber that reflect the high standards of the Academy,

and/or

(b)  have been nominated for an Academy Award in one of the acting categories,

or

(c) have, in the judgment of the Actors Branch Executive Committee, otherwise achieved unique distinction, earned special merit or made an outstanding contribution as a motion picture actor.

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As we can see, it is an extremely thoughtful process to become a member. The Academy awards wishes to maintain a certain level of quality and also an independent status. According to a study published at the end of 2013 by the Los Angeles Times, these movie industry representatives are on average 62 years old, 77% are men and 93% are white. These stats do nothing to help the current debate about the lack of diversity at the Oscars. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite was a big buzz and many well-known actors and directors like Will Smith or Spike Lee took position against this lack of diversity. Nevertheless, the 88th Oscars will take place this year and hopefully amazing artists will be rewarded.

A few amazing statistics that will blow your mind

The Oscars is a tremendous event, probably one of the most universal ones, together with the Olympic games. There are 255 countries live broadcasting the Oscars, no matter is the local time is in the morning, the afternoon or the middle of the night. The first TV broadcasted show was the 25th ceremony back in 1953. Here are some interesting statistics around the Oscars:

  • Total years ABC has broadcasted the awards: 51
  • Seating capacity at the Dolby Theatre: 3,300
  • Longest Oscar telecast: 74th Oscars in 2002 at 4 hours, 23 minutes
  • Shortest Oscar telecast: 31st Oscars in 1959 at 1 hour, 40 minutes
  • American viewers last year: 37.3 million
  • Estimated global viewership: Several hundred million
  • Number of countries that submitted a feature film for the best foreign language film award: 81
  • The total number of Oscar nominations for musician John Williams, the record for a living person: 50

The 88th Oscars ceremony: The nominees.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE NOMINEES

BRYAN CRANSTON
Trumbo

MATT DAMON
The Martian

LEONARDO DICAPRIO – WINNER
The Revenant

MICHAEL FASSBENDER
Steve Jobs

EDDIE REDMAYNE
The Danish Girl

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ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE NOMINEES

CHRISTIAN BALE
The Big Short

TOM HARDY
The Revenant

MARK RUFFALO
Spotlight

MARK RYLANCE – WINNER
Bridge of Spies

SYLVESTER STALLONE
Creed

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE NOMINEES

CATE BLANCHETT
Carol

BRIE LARSON – WINNER
Room

JENNIFER LAWRENCE
Joy

CHARLOTTE RAMPLING
45 Years

SAOIRSE RONAN
Brooklyn

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ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE NOMINEES

JENNIFER JASON LEIGH
The Hateful Eight

ROONEY MARA
Carol

RACHEL MADAMS
Spotlight

ALICIA VIKANDER – WINNER
The Danish Girl

KATE WINSLET
Steve Jobs

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

ANOMALISA
Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran

BOY AND THE WORLD
Alê Abreu

INSIDE OUT – WINNER
Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera

SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE
Mark Burton and Richard Starzak

WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE
Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura

BEST PICTURE

THE BIG SHORT
Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers

BRIDGE OF SPIES
Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

BROOKLYN
Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
Doug Mitchell and George Miller, Producers

THE MARTIAN
Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer and Mark Huffam, Producers

THE REVENANT
Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent and Keith Redmon, Producers

ROOM
Ed Guiney, Producer

SPOTLIGHT – WINNER
Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon Faust, Producers

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CINEMATOGRAPHY NOMINEES

CAROL
Ed Lachman

THE HATEFUL EIGHT
Robert Richardson

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
John Seale

THE REVENANT – WINNER
Emmanuel Lubezki

SICARIO
Roger Deakins

COSTUME DESIGN

CAROL
Sandy Powell

CINDERELLA
Sandy Powell

THE DANISH GIRL
Paco Delgado

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – WINNER
Jenny Beavan

THE REVENANT
Jacqueline West

DIRECTING

THE BIG SHORT
Adam McKay

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
George Miller

THE REVENANT – WINNER
Alejandro G. Iñárritu

ROOM
Lenny Abrahamsson

SPOTLIGHT
Tom McCarthy

Alejandro-Gonzalez-Inarritu

FILM EDITING

THE BIG SHORT
Hank Corwin

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – WINNER
Margaret Sixel

THE REVENANT
Stephen Mirions

SPOTLIGHT
Tom McArdle

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM NOMINEES

EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT
Colombia

MUSTANG
France

SON OF SAUL – WINNER
Hungary

THEEB
Jordan

A WAR
Denmark

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING NOMINEES

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – WINNER
Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin

THE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED
Love Larson and Eva von Bahr

THE REVENANT
Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini

PRODUCTION DESIGN

BRIDGE OF SPIES
Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo and Bernhard Henrich

THE DANISH GIRL
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Michael Standish

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – WINNER
Production Design: Colin Gibson; Set Decoration: Lisa Thompson

THE MARTIAN
Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Celia Bobak

THE REVENANT
Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Hamish Purdy

SOUND EDITING

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – WINNER
Mark Mangini and David White

THE MARTIAN
Oliver Tarney

THE REVENANT
Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender

SICARIO
Alan Robert Murray

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
Matthew Wood and David Acord

SOUND MIXING

BRIDGE OF SPIES
Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – WINNER
Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo

THE MARTIAN
Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth

THE REVENANT
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

VISUAL EFFECTS

EX MACHINA – WINNER
Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams

THE MARTIAN
Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner

THE REVENANT
Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

BRIDGE OF SPIES
Thomas Newman

CAROL
Carter Burrell

THE HATEFUL EIGHT – WINNER
Ennio Morricone

SICARIO
Jóhann Jóhannsson

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
John Williams

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WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

BRIDGE OF SPIES
Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

EX MACHINA
Written by Alex Garland

INSIDE OUT
Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen

SPOTLIGHT – WINNER
Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy

STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

BODY TEAM 12
David Darg and Bryn Mooser

CHAU, BEYOND THE LINES
Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck

CLAUDE LANZMANN: SPECTRES OF THE SHOAH
Adam Benzine

A GIRL IN THE RIVER: THE PRICE OF FORGIVENESS – WINNER
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

LAST DAY OF FREEDOM
Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

AMY – WINNER
Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees

CARTEL LAND
Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellen

THE LOOK OF SILENCE
Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen

WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE?
Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes

WINTER ON FIRE: UKRAINE’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

BEAR STORY – WINNER
Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala

PROLOGUE
Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton

SANJAY’S SUPER TEAM
Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle

WE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT COSMOS
Konstantin Bronzit

WORLD OF TOMORROW
Don Hertzfeld

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

AVE MARIA
Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont

DAY ONE
Henry Hughes

EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY (ALLES WIRD GUT)
Patrick Vollrath

SHOK
Jamie Donoghue

STUTTERER – WINNER
Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY
“Earned It” from Fifty Shades of Grey; Music and Lyric by The Weeknd, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Quenneville and Stephan Moccia

RACING EXTINCTION
“Manta Ray” from Racing Extinction; Music by J. Ralph, Lyric by Anohni

YOUTH
“Simple Song #3” from Youth; Music and Lyric by David Lang

THE HUNTING GROUND
“Til It Happens To You” from The Hunting Ground; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga

SPECTRE – WINNER
“Writing’s On The Wall” from Spectre; Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

THE BIG SHORT – WINNER
Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay

BROOKLYN
Screenplay by Nick Hornby

CAROL
Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy

THE MARTIAN
Screenplay by Drew Goddard

ROOM
Screenplay by Emma Donoghue

This Sunday, the 88th Oscars ceremony rewarded the best movie professionals that have made our lives sparkling. Movies like The Revenant or Mad Max Fury Road nailed it.

Jose Amorim

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Info sourced at the Oscars official website, hollywoodreporter.com, star2.com, wikipedia, Vanity Fair, Forbes, ABC.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only.