Memorable moments at Oscars 2020

From speeches championing animal rights to a gown with the names of snubbed female directors, the Awards show had its share of drama

Despite plummeting primetime viewership, the Oscars are still one of the most-awaited events the world over. The who’s who of Hollywood descends onto the red carpet in a blitz of diamonds and silk for an evening that is all about historic wins and political speeches.

This year too, the Academy Awards had their share of memorable moments. Metrolife picks out a few we personally loved.

Diversity on display

Bong Joon-ho’s South Korean satire swept all the top honours in an event that is largely marked by predictability. For the first time in the 92-year existence of the Awards, a non-English language film won best picture. Parasite also took home the Oscars for best director, best international feature, and best original screenplay.

It gave the Oscars a chance to set right a long-standing accusation of lack of diversity in winners’ list. It was helped by the fact that New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi won the best adapted screenplay for his Nazi satire ‘Jojo Rabbit’, the first indigenous director ever to win an Oscar. With a long history of exclusionary practices, it was even said that the Academy needed Bong more than he needed the golden statues — to signal a recognition of filmmakers of colour and ethnic origins.

Reminder of missing women

It came as no surprise that no women were nominated for best director this year, the 87th time this has had happened. In a stinging reminder of this blatant display of sexism, Natalie Portman wore a cape lined with the names of female filmmakers who weren’t nominated for best director, including Lulu Wang (‘The Farewell’), Greta Gerwig (‘Little Women’) and Mati Diop (‘Atlantics’). It was also referred to by Janelle Monáe on stage.

Two years ago, when Portman, herself an Oscar winner, had made a pointed reference on stage to “the all-male nominees” while presenting the best director award, it had gone viral. Ironically, her production company has not hired any other woman director, other than her, since its inception.

Repurposing is the buzzword

The stars walking the prestigious red carpet need to put their best foot forward to grab eyeballs and a share of the spotlight — no wonder then that the average total cost for an A-list actress’ outfit is $10 million.

That changed when 82-year-old actress Jane Fonda stepped onto the stage in a ruby red, beaded Elie Saab gown — the same dress she wore to the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. She also carried her now-famous red coat, which she had declared would be “the last piece of clothing she’d ever buy”.

Joaquin Phoenix wore a Stella McCartney tuxedo that he plans to wear for the entire 2020 awards season. And reportedly, four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan’s custom Gucci gown was made from leftover satin from her BAFTAs dress, which itself was made from discarded satin to comply with the film award’s sustainable dress guidelines.

Animal rights, racism, compassion- all in one speech

Joaquin Phoenix, who won the Best Actor award for his superlative performance in Joker, used his acceptance speech to talk about a range of sociopolitical issues including racism, queerness, misogyny, animal rights, personal sacrifice, and cancel culture.

He said, “I think whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or indigenous rights or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice — against the belief that one nation, one race, one gender or one species has the right to dominate, control, and use and exploit another with impunity.”

Statement embroidery

Al-Kateab, the narrator and director of ‘For Sama’, embroidered the skirt of her dress with an Arabic poem. It translates into English as: ‘we dared to dream and we will not regret dignity’. Her critically acclaimed documentary, ‘For Sama’, is a love letter to her infant daughter and chronicles her family’s experiences in Syria. She is among four female directors of feature documentaries nominated.

Actresses can get hungry too

Though it doesn’t make it to the ‘memorable Oscar moments’ list anywhere, 10-year-old Julia Butters sneaking in a turkey sandwich in a glittering purse has the vote of approval from the entire Metrolife team. Though bringing food has been a long standing tradition at the notoriously long awards show, Julia made sure everyone noticed, by leaving her purse open.

YouTube sensation and chat show host Lilly Singh also shared a video on Twitter that showed her eating a chocolate chip cookie on the red carpet. She also made news for carrying a clutch full of Skittles to the 2020 Grammys red carpet.
You go girls!