The coming-of-age drama Moonlight is the winner of the best picture Academy Award.
The film won after the end of the awards ceremony was plunged into chaos after La La Land was mistakenly announced as the best picture winner.
Presenter Warren Beatty says he paused so long before the name was read because the envelope read Emma Stone, La La Land. Actress Faye Dunaway read the name La La Land after chiding Beatty for taking so long to read the winner.
The film tells the story of a boy’s journey to adulthood through his rough upbringing in Miami. The film stars Naomie Harris as the boy’s drug-addicted mother, and Mahershala Ali as a drug dealer-turned mentor for the boy.
Moonlight has provided some of the stiffest competition during Hollywood’s awards season for the musical La La Land, which was nominated for a history-tying 14 Academy Awards.
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: EMMA STONE FOR LA LA LAND
Emma Stone’s portrayal of a struggling actress in La La Land has won her the best actress Academy Award.
Stone won for her portrayal of Mia, an aspiring actress forced to suffer the indignities of failed auditions and working as a barista at a studio cafe. Her character’s career gets a nudge from a struggling jazz pianist played by Ryan Gosling.
“To the women in this category… you are all so extraordinary, and I look up to you and I admire you more than I can put into words,” she said. “It is an honour just to stand beside you. That is the greatest honour of all.”
It is the actress’ first Oscar, and comes during a year in which La La Land and its catchy song-and-dance numbers have charmed Hollywood. The film tied history with its 14 Oscar nominations.
It is the sixth Oscar La La Land has won on Sunday.
ACTOR IN LEADING ROLE: CASEY AFFLECK FOR MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Casey Affleck’s portrayal of a grieving father in Manchester by the Sea has won him the best actor Academy Award.
It is Affleck’s first Oscar. He is the younger brother of Ben Affleck and took the Manchester part after Matt Damon had to drop the role.
Affleck appeared to get emotional after his win. He thanked Denzel Washington, who he said taught him how to act but who he had never met before Sunday’s ceremony.
“Thank you,” Affleck said to Washington “And to all the other nominees tonight, you did great work and I am proud to be in your company. You are very brave and I admire what you do.”
Affleck plays a janitor who’s still reeling from the loss of three children when he is forced to confront another death in his family. Manchester by the Sea is also nominated for best picture.
BEST DIRECTOR: DAMIEN CHAZELLE FOR LA LA LAND
Damien Chazelle has won the best director Academy Award for the film La La Land.
Chazelle also wrote the screenplay for La La Land, which is vying to become the first musical in 15 years to win the best picture Oscar. His film is an homage to past musicals, and stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
“This was a movie about love, and I was lucky enough to fall in love while making it,” he said, dedicating the award to his girlfriend.
At 32, he is the youngest best director winner.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG: CITY OF STARS FROM LA LA LAND
La La Land’s City of Stars is the winner of the Academy Award for best original song.
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone perform a duet of the song in the film. It beat out another La La Land song, Audition (The Fools Who Dream), for the Oscar.
It includes music from La La Land composer Justin Hurwitz, and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
La La Land won the best original score Oscar. Hurwitz also wrote the film’s score.
The wins for La La Land came after a montage of the film’s two nominated songs was performed by John Legend.
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
The Syrian war documentary The White Helmets has won the short documentary Academy Award.
The Netflix film focuses on the rescue workers who risk their lives to save Syrians affected by civil war. Director Orlando von Einsiedel urged Oscar attendees to stand up to demonstrate their support for a quick end to the Syrian civil war, which prompted a standing ovation.
Von Einsiedel also read a statement from the group’s founder in which he thanked the academy for the recognition. “Our organisation is guide by a verse from the Quran ‘to save one life is to save all of humanity’. We have saved more than 82 thousand civilian lives. I invite anyone here who hears me to work on the side of life, to stop the bloodshed in Syria, and around the world,” Von Einsiedel read.
Many of the group’s members have been killed by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s air forces. One of the film’s cinematographers, 21-year-old Syrian Khaled Khateeb was unable to attend Sunday’s ceremony after his entry into the United States was blocked.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: ZOOTOPIA
Zootopia has won the best animated film Academy Award.
The Disney film tells the story of an earnest rabbit who is the first of her kind to become a police officer in a city in which predators and prey live together in a sometimes fragile peace.
The winner of the best animated short Oscar is Piper.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: THE SALESMAN (IRAN)
Iran’s The Salesman has won the Academy Award for best foreign language film.
It is the second win in the category for writer-director Asghar Farhadi, who previously won for 2011’s A Separation. He boycotted the Oscars in protest of the travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration.
In a statement read on his behalf, Farhadi wrote that filmmakers create empathy between others, and that is more needed today than ever.
“My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and the other six countries that have been disrespected by the inhuman law that bans entry of immigrants to the US dividing the world into the ‘us’ and ‘our enemies’ category creates fear,” read Anousheh Ansari, an American-Iranian engineer and astronaut.
The Salesman is a thriller about a married couple’s attempts to find peace and justice in Tehran after the wife is attacked in her apartment.
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: VIOLA DAVIS FOR FENCES
Viola Davis has won the supporting actress Academy Award for her role in Fences.
Davis won for her portrayal of a mother determined to hold her family together despite the rages of her husband, who is played by best actor nominee Denzel Washington.
“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,” she said, breaking down in tears.
“I became an artist, and thank god I did, because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life. So here’s to August Wilson, who exhumed and exalted the ordinary people.”
The Oscar win comes in a role that Davis previously won a Tony Award for when she starred opposite Washington in a Broadway revival of Fences. The film is the first big-screen adaptation of an August Wilson play.
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: MAHERSHALA ALI FOR MOONLIGHT
Mahershala Ali is the winner of the Academy Award for best supporting actor for his Moonlight role.
Ali won for his first Oscar-nominated role, in which he plays a Miami drug dealer who mentors a young boy who is being teased and bullied.
It has been a breakout year for Ali, who starred on the Netflix series Luke Cage and also had a role in another Oscar-nominated film, Hidden Figures.
Ali paid tribute to his teachers and “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins in his acceptance speech and thanked his wife, who gave birth to their daughter four days ago.
“I just want to thank my wife who was in her third trimester during awards season,” Ali said. “We just had a daughter four days ago. I just want to thank her for being such a soldier through this process and really carrying me through it all.”
