[ot-caption title=”The Oscars Logo. (via Christian Abad)”]

From speeches to mix ups, the 2017 award season was an eventful one. Films such as Manchester by the Sea, Fences, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Moonlight, and many more proved 2016 to be a great year for cinema that was definitely more diverse than last year. [spacer height=”20px”]

For the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Outstanding Performance by Cast was awarded to Fences, competing against Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight, and Captain Fantastic. Denzel, who directed Fences also won Best Male Actor in a Leading Role. Emma Stone won Best Female Actor in a Leading Role for La La Land, going against Emily Blunt (The Girl on the Train), Amy Adams (Arrival), Natalie Portman (Jackie), and Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins). Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role was won by Mahershala for his performance in Moonlight, coming out on top of Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water, Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins, Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea and Dev Patel, Lion. Best Female Supporting Role was awarded to Viola Davis.[spacer height=”20px”]

La La Land was a favorite throughout the whole season and broke records at the Golden Globes. It won Best Motion Picture for Musical or Comedy, along with its main stars, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone winning for Best Lead Actor and Actress for Musical or Comedy, respectively. It also won Best Director (Damien Chazelle), Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song. Moonlight also won Best Motion Picture for Drama. The awards were not the only memorable event of the Golden Globes. Meryl Streep made a powerful speech in which she declared her disdain for President Trump. [spacer height=”20px”]

The Academy Awards saw similar trends in awards to the rest of the season. La La Land won six awards, including Emma Stone for her performance, Mahershala Ali for best supporting role in Moonlight, and Viola Davis for supporting role in Fences. A colossal mistake happened at the biggest moment of the night. The great mix up initially awarded La La Land for best picture, when in actuality Moonlight had won. The two announcers, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, were apparently given the Best Actress envelope so when they opened it, a card that said La La Land was next to Emma Stone’s name.  The employees that were handling the two envelopes have been fired from their jobs.[spacer height=”20px”]

While the numerous different award shows usually honor the same people, it is important to note that some early predicitions for the awards were pretty far off. Although most did not think Jackie would be nominated for Best Picture, Natalie Portman was considered by many to be a strong contender to win Best Actress for at least one of the award shows. As it turned out, the underdog French film Elle beat her for the SAG, and Emma Stone beat her for the Golden Globes, which she was expected to win. [spacer height=”20px”]

The unexpected winners and unscripted moments are what make award shows more interesting to watch. The 2017 season certainly brought many of both and even though it just ended, there is already speculation about who might be nominated next year, including a lot of buzz around Emma Stone being up for Best Actress again. [spacer height=”20px”]

Sources: The Independant, Oscars, Us Weekly, LA Times, Golden Globes, News AU, FiveThirtyEight, Vox, New York Times

Photo Source:  Christian Abad