By — Corinne Segal Corinne Segal Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/moonlight-la-la-land-standouts-compete-oscars Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter At the Oscars, wins for ‘Moonlight’ and calls for art without borders Arts Feb 26, 2017 8:30 PM EDT “Moonlight” won Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards, in a ceremony in which presenters and award recipients called for unity and pointed to the strength of diversity in the film industry on its biggest night of the year. “Moonlight,” which follows the story of a young boy grappling with life as a young, gay, black man growing up in the 1980s in a Miami housing project, won after Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly announced that the award had gone to “La La Land.” Beatty said he had been handed the wrong card. Earlier in the evening, Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim actor to win an Academy Award for his role in “Moonlight.” The film, which was nominated for eight categories total, also won for Best Adapted Screenplay. “Tonight is proof that art has no borders,” Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, told the audience at the awards, which were hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. “All creative artists around the world are connected by an unbreakable bond that is powerful and permanent.” “Tonight is proof that art has no borders.” — Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Kimmel, a first-time host of the awards ceremony, said in his opening monologue that although he was “not the man to unite this country… it can be done.” The late-night host suggested that every one of the millions watching the show reach out to someone they disagree with and “have a positive, considerate conversation — not as liberals or conservatives, as Americans.” Asghar Farhadi, whose film “The Salesman” won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, was absent from the ceremony in protest of President Donald Trump’s executive order barring immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American engineer, read a statement from Farhadi while accepting the award on his behalf. “I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight,” the statement read. “My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of the other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants into the U.S.” Filmmaking helps bridge the gaps caused by divisive rhetoric, the statement continued. “Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others, and empathy which we need today more than ever.” Other presenters and recipients echoed this sentiment and called for unity. While presenting the award for Best Animated Feature Film, Gael Garcia Bernal said that as a Mexican and migrant worker, he was “against any form of wall that wants to separate us.” “The White Helmets,” a documentary on the humanitarian group of the same name working to save lives amid war in Syria, won the award for Best Documentary, Short Subject. But Raed Al Saleh, head of the White Helmets, was not able to attend the ceremony after Syria revoked his passport, The Guardian reported. Orlando von Einsiedel, director of the film, read a statement from Saleh. “We’re so grateful that this film has highlighted our work to the world,” the statement said. “I invite anyone who hears me to work on the side of life.” In an emotional speech to accept the award for Actress in a Supporting Role, Viola Davis, who played the role of Rose Maxson in “Fences,” said the place that holds the most potential for storytelling is “the graveyard.” “People ask me all the time, what kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola?’ And I say, ‘Exhume those bodies, exhume those stories. The stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition. People who fell in love and lost.’” “La La Land,” which starred Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a struggling jazz musician and actor working toward success in Hollywood, picked up several of the 14 awards for which it was nominated, including a win for Emma Stone for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Original Score, Best Production Design and Best Director. The film garnered acclaim by some critics even as others criticized it as tone-deaf, including Vogue contributing editor Michelle Ruiz, who said it “falls flat in the diversity department.” Another standout film from this year: “Hidden Figures,” the story of three black women who helped pioneer NASA’s space program. Octavia Spencer earned a nomination for Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of Dorothy Vaughan, and the film also received nods for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Katherine Johnson, real-life inspiration for “Hidden Figures,” joined its lead actors onstage to help present the award for Best Documentary Feature. After months of conversation around #OscarsSoWhite, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year added 683 new members, 46 percent of whom are female and 41 percent of whom are people of color. This year brought a record six nominations for black actors, even as other categories, such as Best Director, remain predominantly male and white. Read more of our coverage of the nominees as we go beyond the red carpet. The winners are listed in bold below. Best Picture “La La Land” “Moonlight” “Manchester by the Sea” “Arrival” “Fences” “Lion” “Hidden Figures” “Hacksaw Ridge” “Hell or High Water” Actress in a Leading Role Natalie Portman, “Jackie” Emma Stone, “La La Land” Isabelle Huppert, “Elle” Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins” Ruth Negga, “Loving” Actor in a Leading Role Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea” Ryan Gosling, “La La Land” Denzel Washington, “Fences” Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge” Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic” Director Damien Chazelle, “La La Land” Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight” Denis Villeneuve, “Arrival” Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea” Mel Gibson, “Hacksaw Ridge” Actress in a Supporting Role Viola Davis, “Fences” Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea” Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures” Naomie Harris, “Moonlight” Nicole Kidman, “Lion” Actor in a Supporting Role Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight” Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water” Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea” Dev Patel, “Lion” Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals” Best Documentary “O.J.: Made in America” “13th” “I Am Not Your Negro” “Fire at Sea” “Life Animate” Best Foreign Language Film “Toni Erdmann” “The Salesman” “Land of Mine” “A Man Called Ove” “Tanna” Best Animated Feature Film “Zootopia” “Kubo and the Two Strings” “Moana” “The Red Turtle” “My Life as a Zucchini” Best Adapted Screenplay “Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins “Arrival,” Eric Heisserer “Lion,” Luke Davies “Fences,” August Wilson “Hidden Figures,” Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi Best Original Screenplay “La La Land,” Damien Chazelle “Hell or High Water,” Taylor Sheridan “Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan “The Lobster,” Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou “20th Century Women,” Mike Mills Best Original Song “How Far I’ll Go,” “Moana” “City of Stars,” “La La Land” “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” “La La Land” “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” “Trolls” “The Empty Chair,” “Jim: The James Foley Story” Best Original Score “La La Land,” Justin Hurwitz “Moonlight,” Nicholas Britell “Lion,” Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka “Jackie,” Mica Levi “Passengers,” Thomas Newman Best Cinematography “Moonlight,” James Laxton “La La Land,” Linus Sandgren “Arrival,” Bradford Young “Silence,” Rodrigo Prieto “Lion,” Greig Fraser Best Production Design “La La Land,” David Wasco “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Stuart Craig and James Hambidge “Arrival,” Patrice Vermette “Hail Caesar” “Passengers” Best Visual Effects “The Jungle Book,” Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould “Doctor Strange,” Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould “Deepwater Horizon,” Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton “Kubo and the Two Strings,” Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff Best Costume Design “La La Land,” Mary Zophres “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Colleen Atwood “Florence Foster Jenkins,” Consolata Boyle “Jackie,” Madeline Fontaine “Allied,” Joanna Johnston Best Makeup and Hair Styling “Star Trek Beyond,” Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo “Suicide Squad,” Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson “A Man Called Ove,” Eva von Bahr and Love Larson Best Film Editing “La La Land,” Tom Cross “Moonlight,” Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon “Hacksaw Ridge,” John Gilbert “Arrival,” Joe Walker “Hell or High Water,” Jake Roberts Best Sound Editing “La La Land,” Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan “Hacksaw Ridge,” Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright “Arrival,” Sylvain Bellemare “Sully,” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman “Deepwater Horizon,” Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli Best Sound Mixing “La La Land,” Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow “Hacksaw Ridge,” Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson “Arrival,” Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth Best Short Film, Animated “Piper” “Pearl” “Borrowed Time” “Pear Cider and Cigarettes” “Blind Vaysha” Best Short Film, Live Action “Timecode” “Sing (Mindenki) “Silent Nights” “Ennemis Interieurs” “La Femme et le TGV” Best Documentary, Short Subject “The White Helmets” “Extremis” “Watani: My Homeland” “4.1 Miles” “Joe’s Violin” By — Corinne Segal Corinne Segal Corinne is the Senior Multimedia Web Editor for NewsHour Weekend. She serves on the advisory board for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. @cesegal
“Moonlight” won Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards, in a ceremony in which presenters and award recipients called for unity and pointed to the strength of diversity in the film industry on its biggest night of the year. “Moonlight,” which follows the story of a young boy grappling with life as a young, gay, black man growing up in the 1980s in a Miami housing project, won after Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly announced that the award had gone to “La La Land.” Beatty said he had been handed the wrong card. Earlier in the evening, Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim actor to win an Academy Award for his role in “Moonlight.” The film, which was nominated for eight categories total, also won for Best Adapted Screenplay. “Tonight is proof that art has no borders,” Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, told the audience at the awards, which were hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. “All creative artists around the world are connected by an unbreakable bond that is powerful and permanent.” “Tonight is proof that art has no borders.” — Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Kimmel, a first-time host of the awards ceremony, said in his opening monologue that although he was “not the man to unite this country… it can be done.” The late-night host suggested that every one of the millions watching the show reach out to someone they disagree with and “have a positive, considerate conversation — not as liberals or conservatives, as Americans.” Asghar Farhadi, whose film “The Salesman” won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, was absent from the ceremony in protest of President Donald Trump’s executive order barring immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American engineer, read a statement from Farhadi while accepting the award on his behalf. “I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight,” the statement read. “My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of the other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants into the U.S.” Filmmaking helps bridge the gaps caused by divisive rhetoric, the statement continued. “Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others, and empathy which we need today more than ever.” Other presenters and recipients echoed this sentiment and called for unity. While presenting the award for Best Animated Feature Film, Gael Garcia Bernal said that as a Mexican and migrant worker, he was “against any form of wall that wants to separate us.” “The White Helmets,” a documentary on the humanitarian group of the same name working to save lives amid war in Syria, won the award for Best Documentary, Short Subject. But Raed Al Saleh, head of the White Helmets, was not able to attend the ceremony after Syria revoked his passport, The Guardian reported. Orlando von Einsiedel, director of the film, read a statement from Saleh. “We’re so grateful that this film has highlighted our work to the world,” the statement said. “I invite anyone who hears me to work on the side of life.” In an emotional speech to accept the award for Actress in a Supporting Role, Viola Davis, who played the role of Rose Maxson in “Fences,” said the place that holds the most potential for storytelling is “the graveyard.” “People ask me all the time, what kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola?’ And I say, ‘Exhume those bodies, exhume those stories. The stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition. People who fell in love and lost.’” “La La Land,” which starred Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a struggling jazz musician and actor working toward success in Hollywood, picked up several of the 14 awards for which it was nominated, including a win for Emma Stone for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Original Score, Best Production Design and Best Director. The film garnered acclaim by some critics even as others criticized it as tone-deaf, including Vogue contributing editor Michelle Ruiz, who said it “falls flat in the diversity department.” Another standout film from this year: “Hidden Figures,” the story of three black women who helped pioneer NASA’s space program. Octavia Spencer earned a nomination for Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of Dorothy Vaughan, and the film also received nods for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Katherine Johnson, real-life inspiration for “Hidden Figures,” joined its lead actors onstage to help present the award for Best Documentary Feature. After months of conversation around #OscarsSoWhite, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year added 683 new members, 46 percent of whom are female and 41 percent of whom are people of color. This year brought a record six nominations for black actors, even as other categories, such as Best Director, remain predominantly male and white. Read more of our coverage of the nominees as we go beyond the red carpet. The winners are listed in bold below. Best Picture “La La Land” “Moonlight” “Manchester by the Sea” “Arrival” “Fences” “Lion” “Hidden Figures” “Hacksaw Ridge” “Hell or High Water” Actress in a Leading Role Natalie Portman, “Jackie” Emma Stone, “La La Land” Isabelle Huppert, “Elle” Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins” Ruth Negga, “Loving” Actor in a Leading Role Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea” Ryan Gosling, “La La Land” Denzel Washington, “Fences” Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge” Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic” Director Damien Chazelle, “La La Land” Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight” Denis Villeneuve, “Arrival” Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea” Mel Gibson, “Hacksaw Ridge” Actress in a Supporting Role Viola Davis, “Fences” Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea” Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures” Naomie Harris, “Moonlight” Nicole Kidman, “Lion” Actor in a Supporting Role Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight” Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water” Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea” Dev Patel, “Lion” Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals” Best Documentary “O.J.: Made in America” “13th” “I Am Not Your Negro” “Fire at Sea” “Life Animate” Best Foreign Language Film “Toni Erdmann” “The Salesman” “Land of Mine” “A Man Called Ove” “Tanna” Best Animated Feature Film “Zootopia” “Kubo and the Two Strings” “Moana” “The Red Turtle” “My Life as a Zucchini” Best Adapted Screenplay “Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins “Arrival,” Eric Heisserer “Lion,” Luke Davies “Fences,” August Wilson “Hidden Figures,” Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi Best Original Screenplay “La La Land,” Damien Chazelle “Hell or High Water,” Taylor Sheridan “Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan “The Lobster,” Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou “20th Century Women,” Mike Mills Best Original Song “How Far I’ll Go,” “Moana” “City of Stars,” “La La Land” “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” “La La Land” “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” “Trolls” “The Empty Chair,” “Jim: The James Foley Story” Best Original Score “La La Land,” Justin Hurwitz “Moonlight,” Nicholas Britell “Lion,” Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka “Jackie,” Mica Levi “Passengers,” Thomas Newman Best Cinematography “Moonlight,” James Laxton “La La Land,” Linus Sandgren “Arrival,” Bradford Young “Silence,” Rodrigo Prieto “Lion,” Greig Fraser Best Production Design “La La Land,” David Wasco “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Stuart Craig and James Hambidge “Arrival,” Patrice Vermette “Hail Caesar” “Passengers” Best Visual Effects “The Jungle Book,” Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould “Doctor Strange,” Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould “Deepwater Horizon,” Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton “Kubo and the Two Strings,” Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff Best Costume Design “La La Land,” Mary Zophres “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Colleen Atwood “Florence Foster Jenkins,” Consolata Boyle “Jackie,” Madeline Fontaine “Allied,” Joanna Johnston Best Makeup and Hair Styling “Star Trek Beyond,” Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo “Suicide Squad,” Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson “A Man Called Ove,” Eva von Bahr and Love Larson Best Film Editing “La La Land,” Tom Cross “Moonlight,” Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon “Hacksaw Ridge,” John Gilbert “Arrival,” Joe Walker “Hell or High Water,” Jake Roberts Best Sound Editing “La La Land,” Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan “Hacksaw Ridge,” Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright “Arrival,” Sylvain Bellemare “Sully,” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman “Deepwater Horizon,” Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli Best Sound Mixing “La La Land,” Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow “Hacksaw Ridge,” Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson “Arrival,” Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth Best Short Film, Animated “Piper” “Pearl” “Borrowed Time” “Pear Cider and Cigarettes” “Blind Vaysha” Best Short Film, Live Action “Timecode” “Sing (Mindenki) “Silent Nights” “Ennemis Interieurs” “La Femme et le TGV” Best Documentary, Short Subject “The White Helmets” “Extremis” “Watani: My Homeland” “4.1 Miles” “Joe’s Violin”