Oscars host a diversity-packed night

Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, a wistful portrait of itinerant lives on open roads in America, won best picture at the 93rd Academy Awards, where the China-born Zhao became the first woman of colour to win best director, while Anthony Hopkins won best actor as a historically diverse group took home the awards HOPKINS WINS OVER CHADWICK BOSEMAN

In what was perhaps the biggest surprise of the night, Britain’s veteran actor ANTHONY HOPKINS won the best lead actor for his role as a man battling dementia in The Father. The Oscar had been widely expected to go to the late CHADWICK BOSEMAN for his final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. While Hopkins wasn’t in attendance, he made a belated victory speech via video and paid tribute to Boseman, who he said was “taken from us far too early.”

UNEXPECTED BIG SWEEP FOR NOMADLAND

Nomadland swept with three big wins — best director (Chloé Zhao), best movie and best lead actress (Frances Mcdormand). The victory capped the extraordinary rise of Zhao, a filmmaker whose winning film — with a budget $5 million — is one of the most modest-sized movies to win the top honour. Nomadland stuck a chord in a pandemic-ravaged year. It made for an unlikely champ: A film about people who gravitate to the margins took centre-stage

“This is for anyone who has the faith and the courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves and to hold on the goodness in others no matter how difficult it is to do that.” —CHLOÉ ZHAO

SUPPORTING OSCARS FOR KALUUYA AND YOUN

DANIEL KALUUYA won best supporting actor for Judas and the Black Messiah. The win for the 32-year-old British actor who was previously nominated for Get Out, was widely expected

Best supporting actress went to YOUN YUH-JUNG for the matriarch of Lee Isaac Chung’s tender family drama Minari. Youn is the first Asian actress to win an Oscar since 1957 and the second in history

GLAMOUR IN A GRIM YEAR

The Oscars rolled out a red carpet and tried to restore some glamour to a grim year. For the first time ever, this year’s nominees were overwhelmingly seen in the home during a pandemic year that prompted radical change in Hollywood

WHITE NO MORE

More women and more actors of colour were nominated than ever before, and brought a litany of firsts in many categories, spanning everything from hairstyling to composing to acting. It was, some observers said, a sea change for an awards harshly criticised as “Oscarssowhite” in recent years