Frances McDormand as Fern in the film “Nomadland” (2020).
Credit: © Searchlight Pictures

On April 25, 2021, the 93rd Academy Awards—commonly known as the Oscars—were held in a ceremony split between Los Angeles’ Union Station and the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. (Because of the ongoing pandemic [global outbreak] of the coronavirus disease COVID-19, several nominees gathered at other venues in such cities as Sydney, Australia, and London, England.) For the third year in a row, the ceremony went without a host. A variety of comedians, actors, and musicians introduced and handed out the awards.

The drama Nomadland took home the coveted best picture award. The film tells the story of a widow named Fern who travels across the United States in a van. The film’s director, Chloé Zhao, became the first woman of color to win the award for best director. The American actress Frances McDormand, who plays Fern, won her third award for best actress in a leading role.

Many people expected McDormand’s win. However, the British actor Anthony Hopkins took the award for best actor in a leading role, surprising many. The American actor Chadwick Boseman—who died last August—was expected to win for his performance as a trumpet player named Levee Green in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Hopkins won for his role as a man suffering from dementia in The Father. At age 83, he became the oldest actor to win an Oscar.

As for other top awards, the British actor Daniel Kaluuya won for best actor in a supporting role for Judas and the Black Messiah. Kaluuya portrayed Fred Hampton (1948-1969), an African American civil rights activist and leader of the Black Panther Party. The actress Yuh-Jung Youn became the first Korean to take home the award for best actress in a supporting role, for the film Minari. She played Soon-ja, the grandmother in a Korean-American family that moves from California to Arkansas in pursuit of a better life.

The winners used their speeches to bring attention to such themes as racism and police brutality. The American actress, author, and deaf activist Marlee Matlin presented an award in American Sign Language. Her remarks called attention to a teenager named Darnella Frazier who, in May 2020, used her cellphone to capture the death of George Floyd. (Former Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder after kneeling on the neck and back of Floyd, an unarmed Black man, for more than nine minutes leading up to his death on May 25, 2020.) Frazier’s video of the killing was perhaps the most-watched film of 2020, inspiring millions of people around the world to protest racism and to demand justice.