Sinners,K-Pop Tantalizing Performances and History Makers at 2026 Oscars

While the movie "One Battle After Another" walked away with the most awards including Best Picture and Best Director wins, Sinners and K-Pop put on one of the most colorful and mesmerizing musical performances during the Academy Awards. Both movies also made history and  stood as proud beacons of their communities during their performances and when accepting their awards.

Sinners received a standing ovation from the audience after performing the original movie soundtrack song "I Lied to You" in a spellbinding kaliedoscopic real time montage that presented as a vibrantly surreal mix of ethnic dancers, Blues singers, guitarists, African dancers and a singular ballet performance by Misty Copeland who came out of retirement and recovery from a recent hip replacement surgery to be among the performers. The innovative horror movie won a total of 4 Oscars. Michael B. Jordan picked up his first Oscar for his brilliant portrayal of two characters as twins. The movie also won for Best Original Score with long time friend and fellow collaborator Swedish ____, Best Original Screenplay for Director and writer Ryan Coogler. Cinema photography with a history making win for Afro-Philippino    the first female to ever win in that category. 

Creative Social Action Triumphs Classic Oscar Style at Last Night’s Academy Awards

 

By all appeareances the pre-Oscar scuttlebutt about a lack of  diversity in the Academy Awards nominee voting process and choices, though it had gained substantial momentum in days leading up to the broadcast, was resoundingly negated and rendered moot on various levels and in several categories during the program. 

 First of all, it was a wise act to expand upon the telecast and include recipients of the Governors Awards, social activist Harry Belafonte the perfect choice being one of the most notable and consistent artist activists over his lifespan and career. It set the tone for the evening, did the Afro-American community proud and made me feel very much a part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences community, as in "inclusive".

 Two Mexicans, Latinos Hispanics Best Director awards shed a light on immigration issues without tackling them head-on or intentionally. It just worked out in its own way with Birdman directors' (of Mexican descent) tongue in cheek comments about immigration during his Oscar acceptance comments. John Legend and Common's win for Best song "Glory" was the perfect top off for the evening not just for "Selma's " social justice message and the hard fought right to vote, but broadened the victory to overlap into women's rights equal pay issues, age discrimination, immigration and the phlight of aging actors (Birdman) who often get looked over because of the value misplaced on youth in society. (Whiplash's actor @ 60 has been in the industry 40 yrs before winning an award).

Reese Witherspoon's interview on the red carpet about the role she played behind the scenes as a producer of two Oscar nominated movies,Wild and Gone Girl set the table so to speak for Patricia Arquette's big win for her performance in Boyhood and for women's rights in the motion picture industry across the board. Giving more insight and credit to technical aspects of filmmaking by presenting video on special affects designers, etc. was a nice touch.

The outcome was the perfect social consciousness palette, a racially diverse spread of Oscar winners list done with class. A beautifully done reminder that we can and must do this thing called "great society" together... 

See Wikipedia for a more detailed breakdown of the 87th Annual Academy Awards ceremony here.

Cynthia