The 98th Academy Awards delivered one of the most memorable nights in Oscar history, with record-breaking nominations, historic firsts, and emotional acceptance speeches that celebrated both the art of filmmaking and the people who have long been underrepresented within it.
Paul Thomas Anderson's Long-Awaited Triumph
Paul Thomas Anderson's counter-culture comedy thriller "One Battle After Another," inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland, dominated the evening with six wins including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Sean Penn), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, and the first-ever Oscar for Best Casting — a category long petitioned for within the industry.
For Anderson, who had been nominated for films including Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, and Phantom Thread without ever winning, the moment was decades in the making.
"I wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for the housekeeping mess we left in this world we're handing off to them," Anderson said in his first acceptance speech of the night. He added that he hoped a younger generation would help bring back "common sense and decency" to society.
Michael B. Jordan Makes History
The season had become a two-horse race between "One Battle After Another" and Ryan Coogler's period vampire blockbuster "Sinners," which entered the night as the most-nominated film in Oscar history with a record 16 nominations.
"Sinners" won four awards, headlined by Michael B. Jordan's first Academy Award for Best Actor, beating out Timothée Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Jordan became the sixth Black winner of the Best Actor award.
"I stand here because of the people who came before me," Jordan said, before listing Black Oscar winners throughout history. The speech was met with a prolonged standing ovation.
Ryan Coogler won Best Original Screenplay, becoming only the second Black winner in that category following Jordan Peele's win for Get Out. Coogler had his cast stand up, telling them "you all are winners in my book" before apologizing to his children "for all the time away."
Firsts Across the Board
Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history as the first woman and first Black cinematographer to win an Oscar, recognized for her work on "Sinners." The win broke through one of the Academy's most stubbornly homogeneous categories.
Jessie Buckley became the first Irish winner of the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Chloé Zhao's Shakespeare drama "Hamnet." The 36-year-old devoted the award to "the beautiful chaos of a mother's heart" and called it "the greatest honour."
Amy Madigan, 75, won Best Supporting Actress for her villainous role in the hit horror "Weapons," setting a new record for the longest gap between a nomination and a win — four decades after her first nomination in 1986.
Norway's Night to Remember
Joachim Trier's family drama "Sentimental Value" was named Best International Feature Film, marking the first time Norway has won in the category. The film beat out Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein" — which nonetheless won three awards of its own — in what was widely considered one of the strongest international fields in years.
In a year when the industry sometimes felt overshadowed by world events, the Oscars offered a reminder of cinema's unique power: to tell stories that make us see each other more clearly, and to celebrate the people who dedicate their lives to that craft.
