LOS ANGELES: Toggling between Hollywood's past sins and its changing future, the 90th Academy Awards confronted the post-Harvey Weinstein era in a ceremony punctuated by political moments and historic wins, including Netflix's first feature-film award and the transgender drama "A Fantastic Woman" winning best foreign language film.
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Here are the highlights of the event:
The Cold War fantasy film "The Shape of Water" is the winner of the best picture Academy Award. It received a leading 13 nominations for this year's Oscars, and won four Oscars on Sunday night. It stars Sally Hawkins as a mute janitor who falls in love with an aquatic creature kept captive in a government lab.
The award for Best Lead Actress goes to Frances McDormand for her role in 'Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri'. The actress already bagged the SAG and BAFTA awards for the same film.
Gary Oldman wins the Oscar for the Best Lead Actor for the film 'The Darkest Hour'. It is Oldman's first win on only his second nomination, despite his lengthy career of compelling performances.
Each year the Oscars’ In Memoriam section acts as a tribute to the film world’s great and good who have sadly passed away. This year Shashi Kapoor and Sridevi were veteran actors from India who were also honoured.
Guillermo Del Toro wins the Best Director award for The Shape of Water. The director is known for his Spanish-language dark fantasy pieces, gothic horror films and more mainstream American action films.
The song 'Remember Me' from 'Coco' wins Best Original Song. The song was written and composed by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez.
'The Shape of Water' wins the award for Best Original Score.
The Best Cinematography award goes to Blade Runner 2049. This is Roger Deakins' first win after 14 nominations.
Actresses Ashley Judd, Annabella Sciorra and Salma Hayek came out to introduce a montage that celebrated diversity in cinematic storytelling — including gender and race. They also referred to the reckoning that has occurred since the Weinstein story broke last October, launching the #MeToo and Time's Up movements.
Jordan Peele's 'Get Out' wins Best Original Screenplay, while James Ivory's 'Call me by your name' wins Best Adapted Screenplay.
The Best Documentary Short award goes to 'Heaven is a traffic jam on the 405'. The film is about a 56-year-old artist who channels her depression and anxiety into her work.
Blade Runner 2049 wins Best Visual Effects, and 'Dunkirk' wins Best Film Editing.
'Dear Basketball' wins Best Animated Short written by former Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, based on his letter to The Players' Tribune announcing his retirement from basketball.
The Oscar for Best Animated Feature goes to Disney-Pixar's 'Coco'. The film has drawn widespread praise for the culturally authentic way it presents Mexico's "Day of the Dead" culture.
Allison Janney has won the best supporting actress Oscar for her caustic portrayal of Tonya Harding's mother in "I, Tonya." It is Janney's first Oscar win. She has won seven Emmys for her roles on the NBC drama "The West Wing" and the CBS comedy "Mom."
'A Fantastic Woman' wins Best Foreign Language Film. The Chilean film focuses on the struggles of a transgender singer.
'The Shape of Water' wins its first Oscar for Best Production Design by Paul Denham Austerberry.
The Oscars for Best Sound Mixing and Sound Editing goes to 'Dunkirk'.
And the Oscar goes to... pic.twitter.com/G89voFErZP
Best documentary went to Netflix's "Icarus," Bryan Fogel's investigation into doping in sports, aided by the assistance of Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of the Russian anti-doping laboratory. Fogel dedicated the award to Rodchenkov, "our fearless whistleblower who now lives in great danger."
The first Oscar of 2018 goes to Sam Rockwell, who wins best supporting actor Oscar for 'Three Billboards'.
Dark comedy "Three Billboards" is in pole position for the most prestigious prizes, although fairy tale romance "The Shape of Water" leads the overall charge with 13 nominations.
Veteran actor Meryl Streep makes yet another appearance at the Oscars in a flowing red dress as she gets nominated once again; this year for 'The Post' by director Steven Spielberg. If the actress does win the Oscar, she will equal Audrey Hepburn's record of four Academy awards.
The biggest night of movies commences as many celebrities walk the red carpet of the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles in the United States of America. The show is being hosted by television celebrity Jimmy Kimmel, who also hosted Oscars 2017 successfully and was clearly a crowd favourite then to be making a second appearance.
It is also going to be a ground for Hollywood to address the recent Harvey Weinstein scandal. According to a New York Times report, three of the accusers are expected to be presenters at the awards show on Hollywood's biggest night.
"The Shape of Water" starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer among others leads the nominations with 13, followed by "Dunkirk" with eight.
Actors Daniel Kaluuya of 'Get Out', Chadwick Boseman of 'Black Panther' and Saoirse Ronan of 'Lady Bird' are among the top actors to look out for.
(With inputs from AFP and AP)