The Academy Awards 2021 Nominees & Winners

What can we say about the past year in cinema that hasn’t been said already. It’s been challenging to be able to see movies, even more so to make them. But, luckily for us, many great films were made pre-pandemic and were able to make it to online/streaming services over the past few months. Others were made during the pandemic, with safety measures in place, thus providing us with some much needed escapism. Governments around the world may be trying to cut funding to many arts programs and such, but if the past year has taught us anything, it’s that we need cinema/TV/theatre more than ever.

The biggest and perhaps most pleasant suprise and silver lining of all is the amount of foreign language films that have managed to get their voices heard thanks to not needing to compete for cinema screen time/money. As such, the Academy Award nominations this year are possibly the most diverse they have ever been, with more women and POC nominated than any time previously in the awards’ 93-year history.

What follows is a full list of this year’s nominess, with the winners highlighted as they are announced on the evening. The Oscars are broadcast live via NOW TV (you can get a free trial for NOW if you only want to use it to watch the Oscars) and Sky Cinema (Sky Cinema Oscars), with coverage starting at 10pm Sunday 26th April in the UK and the ceremony kicking off at 1am. The event is usually repeated around 8am if you don’t fancy staying up to watch.

BEST PICTURE

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

BEST DIRECTOR

Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) – WINNER
David Fincher (Mank)
Emeral Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)
Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Andra Day (The United States v. Billie Holiday)
Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman) 
Frances McDormand (Nomadland) – WINNER
Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)
Viola Davis (M Rainey’s Black Bottom)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Anthony Hopkins (The Father) – WINNER
Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Gary Oldman (Mank)
Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)
Steven Yeun (Minari)

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Amanda Seyfried (Mank)
Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy)
Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)
Olivia Colman (The Father)
Yoon Yeo-jeong (Minari) – WINNER

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah) – WINNER
Lakeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami)
Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)
Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Judas and the Black Messiah (Will Berson, Shaka King; Story by Will Berson, Shaka King, Kenny Lucas, Keith Lucas)
Minari (Lee Isaac Chung)
Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell) – WINNER
Sound of Metal (Darius Marder, Abraham Marder; Story by Darius Marder, Derek Cianfrance)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman, Lee Kern; Story by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Nina Pedrad)
The Father (Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller) – WINNER
Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
One Night in Miami (Kemp Powers)
The White Tiger (Ramin Bahrani)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (Netflix)
Onward (Pixar)
Over the Moon (Netflix) 
Soul (Pixar) – WINNER
Wolfwalkers (Apple TV Plus/GKIDS)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Another Round (Denmark) – WINNER
Better Days (Hong Kong)
Collective (Romania) 
The Man Who Sold His Skin (Tunisia)
Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Burrow (Disney Plus/Pixar)
Genius Loci (Kazak Productions) 
If Anything Happens I Love You (Netflix) – WINNER
Opera (Beasts and Natives Alike) 
Yes-People (CAOZ hf. Hólamói) 

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM

Feeling Through
The Letter Room
The Present
Two Distant Strangers – WINNER
White Eye

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Collective
Crip Camp
The Mole Agent
My Octopus Teacher – WINNER
Time

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

A Concerto Is a Conversation
Colette – WINNER
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
A Love Song for Latasha

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Fight for You (Judas and the Black Messiah – Music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; Lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas) – WINNER
Hear My Voice (The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Music by Daniel Pemberton; Lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite)
Húsavík (Eurovision Song Contest – Music and Lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson)
Io Si (Seen) (The Life Ahead – Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini)
Speak Now (One Night in Miami – Music and Lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Da 5 Bloods (Terence Blanchard )
Mank (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross)
Minari (Emile Mosseri)
News of the World (James Newton Howard)
Soul (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste) – WINNER

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Judas and the Black Messiah (Sean Bobbitt)
Mank (Erik Messerschmidt) – WINNER
News of the World (Dariusz Wolski)
Nomadland (Joshua James Richards)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Phedon Papamichael)

BEST FILM EDITING

The Father (Yorgos Lamprinos)
Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
Promising Young Woman (Frédéric Thoraval)
Sound of Metal (Mikkel E.G. Nielsen) – WINNER
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Alan Baumgarten)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

The Father (Production Design: Peter Francis; Set Decoration: Cathy Featherstone)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Production Design: Mark Ricker; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton)
Mank (Production Design: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Jan Pascale) – WINNER
News of the World (Production Design: David Crank; Set Decoration: Elizabeth Keenan)
Tenet (Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Love and Monsters (Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox)
The Midnight Sky (Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins)
Mulan (Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram)
The One and Only Ivan (Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones and Santiago Colomo Martinez)
Tenet (Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher) – WINNER

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Emma (Alexandra Byrne )
Mank (Trish Summerville )
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Ann Roth) – WINNER
Mulan (Bina Daigeler)
Pinocchio (Massimo Cantini Parrini)

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Emma (Marese Langan, Laura Allen, Claudia Stolze)
Hillbilly Elegy (Eryn Krueger Mekash, Patricia Dehaney, Matthew Mungle)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal, Jamika Wilson) – WINNER
Mank (Kimberley Spiteri, Gigi Williams, Colleen LaBaff)
Pinocchio (Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli, Francesco Pegoretti)

BEST SOUND

Greyhound (Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman)
Mank (Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin)
News of the World (Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett)
Soul (Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker)
Sound of Metal (Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh) – WINNER