Catch Up with These Academy Award Winners
And the Oscar goes to…
The 2020-2021 awards season has officially concluded with the Academy Awards honoring the year’s best talent in cinema. You can catch up with this year’s winning films by checking out their DVDs from our collection.
If you want to enjoy more films from the winners and nominees, many of their past work can also be found at our library branches.
2020-2021 Academy Award Winners & Nominees
Nomadland
Nomadland, one of awards season’s most talked about films, took home the coveted Best Picture award. Director Chloe Zhao, who also wrote and edited the film, was awarded the Best Director prize. Zhao is only the second woman in history to win an Oscar for Best Director! If you want to catch up with more of Chloe Zhao’s work before Nomadland, check out The Rider, which also features the same cinematographer as Nomadland.
Frances McDormand gives another powerhouse performance as Fern, who lives in her van as she travels through America to work seasonal jobs. McDormand beat out some tough competition in the Lead Actress category and walked away with her third Lead Actress Oscar. You can find many of McDormand’s previous films in our collection.
This film was adapted from Jessica Bruder’s book, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century. Check out a copy of the book to compare Fern’s experiences in the film to the stories Bruder shares in the book.
Promising Young Woman
Writer-Director Emerald Fennell’s first full-length feature impressed critics and audiences alike. Fennell took home the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Promising Young Woman, which was nominated in other major categories.
Carey Mulligan was also recognized for her role as Cassandra with a nomination for Actress in a Leading Role. She ultimately lost to Frances McDormand, but can be seen in many other acclaimed films.
Judas and the Black Messiah
Daniel Kaluuya swept awards season with his portrayal of Fred Hampton, scoring the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Judas and the Black Messiah. You can see Kaluuya in other noteworthy films, such as Widows and Black Panther. He also starred alongside fellow Judas and the Black Messiah actor Lakeith Stanfield in the 2017 acclaimed film Get Out.
Daniel Kaluuya wasn’t the only big winner of the night for Judas and the Black Messiah. H.E.R. took home the golden statue for Best Original Song for “Fight for You,” which was written for the film’s soundtrack.
Soul
Soul not only won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, but was also awarded the Best Animated Feature trophy. If you are a fan of Soul, you might enjoy some of co-director Peter Docter’s other projects. He directed Monsters, Inc., Up and Inside Out.
Tenet
Christopher Nolan’s mind bending science fiction feature, Tenet, was recognized in the Academy’s technical categories. Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
Mank
If you want to know more about the Mank, which won the Best Cinematography and Best Production Design awards, look no further than Citizen Kane itself. Citizen Kane is widely considered the ultimate classic of American cinema. You can also find out more about the infamous production of Citizen Kane by listening to the audiobook of Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker’s Journey by Harlan Lebo.
Director David Fincher is no stranger to critical acclaim. He has also directed Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Gone Girl, The Social Network, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. All of these films can be found in the library’s collection. Fun fact: Erik Messerschmidt, who won for Best Cinematography for his work on Mank, first worked with Fincher as part of the camera department for Gone Girl.
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