And the Oscar Goes To: A Night of History, Hubris, and Hollywood’s Eternal Need to Crown a Winner
There is something almost ritualistic about the way Hollywood gathers each March to confer its highest honors upon itself. On Sunday evening, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles—a venue that has hosted enough triumph and televised anxiety to qualify as a spiritual site—the 98th Academy Awards offered exactly what the form demands: a genuinely suspenseful best picture race, a handful of victories that felt overdue, and at least one winner who couldn’t be bothered to show up.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, a thriller about left-wing ex-revolutionaries, claimed six Oscars in total, including Best Picture, with Anderson himself collecting Best Director alongside an earlier win for Adapted Screenplay. The film’s great rival was Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which arrived carrying the considerable burden of expectation that comes with being, the most-nominated film in Oscar history, having broken the previous record of fourteen shared by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land. It left with four: Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score. History was made in that last category not once but twice—Jordan becoming the first performer ever honored for dual roles, having played twins Smoke and Stack, while Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman and first Black cinematographer to win Best Cinematography. In her acceptance speech, she asked every woman in the Dolby Theatre to stand.
Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for Hamnet, dedicating the award, with characteristic Irish economy, to “the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart”—it being, she noted, Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom. Sean Penn, honored for his supporting performance as a brutal military officer in One Battle After Another, collected his third acting Oscar without being present to receive it. Penn had appeared in the audience throughout the ceremony, conspicuously smoking, before declining to materialise at the podium. Presenter Kieran Culkin, last year’s supporting winner, offered a deadpan explanation on his behalf.
The evening also had its share of institutional firsts. Best Casting was introduced as a new competitive category—the first addition to the Oscars since Best Animated Feature in 2001. Cassandra Kulukundis won the inaugural award for One Battle After Another, upsetting the widely favoured Francine Maisler of Sinners. And the ceremony marked a milestone for K-pop, with KPop Demon Hunters winning Best Animated Feature and its song “Golden” taking Best Original Song.
Then there were the absences, which in some years speak as loudly as the wins. Wicked: For Good was shut out of all categories—a remarkable reversal for a franchise whose first instalment earned ten nominations and two wins the previous year. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, both nominees in 2025, went unrecognized entirely. Jennifer Lawrence was passed over for Best Actress for Die My Love, as was newcomer Chase Infiniti for her debut in One Battle After Another, despite the film’s thirteen nominations overall. Guillermo del Toro, whose Frankenstein competed for Best Picture, was conspicuously absent from the Best Director category. Paul Mescal, the co-lead of Hamnet, was submitted for supporting actor in what many considered a transparent act of category management— and the Academy declined to reward the manoeuvre.
Here’s the full list of winners at the 98th Academy Awards.
Complete list of Winners
Best picture: One Battle After Another (Winner)
- Bugonia
- Frankenstein
- F1
- Hamnet
- Marty Supreme
- The Secret Agent
- Sentimental Value
- Sinners
- Train Dreams
Best actress: Jessie Buckley – Hamnet (Winner)
- Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
- Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue
- Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
- Emma Stone – Bugonia
Best actor: Michael B Jordan – Sinners (Winner)
- Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
- Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
- Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
- Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent
Best supporting actress: Amy Madigan – Weapons (Winner)
- Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
- Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
- Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
- Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another
Best supporting actor: Sean Penn – One Battle After Another (Winner)
- Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another
- Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
- Delroy Lindo – Sinners
- Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value
Best director: Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another (Winner)
- Ryan Coogler – Sinners
- Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
- Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
- Chloé Zhao – Hamnet
Best animated feature: KPop Demon Hunters (Winner)
- Arco
- Elio
- Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
- Zootopia 2
Best international feature: Sentimental Value (Winner)
- It Was Just an Accident
- Sirât
- The Secret Agent
- The Voice of Hind Rajab
Best documentary feature: Mr Nobody Against Putin (Winner)
- Come See Me in the Good Light
- Cutting Through the Rocks
- The Alabama Solution
- The Perfect Neighbor
Best original screenplay: Sinners – Ryan Coogler (Winner)
- Blue Moon – Robert Kaplow
- It Was Just an Accident – Jafar Panahi
- Marty Supreme – Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
- Sentimental Value – Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier
Best adapted screenplay: One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson (Winner)
- Bugonia – Will Tracy
- Frankenstein – Guillermo del Toro
- Hamnet – Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell
- Train Dreams – Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar
Best original song: Golden – KPop Demon Hunters (by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park) (Winner)
- Dear Me – Diane Warren: Relentless (by Diane Warren)
- I Lied to You – Sinners (by by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson)
- Sweet Dreams of Joy – Viva Verdi! (by Nicholas Pike)
- Train Dreams – Train Dreams (by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner)
Best original score: Sinners – Ludwig Goransson (Winner)
- Bugonia – Jerskin Fendrix
- Frankenstein – Alexandre Desplat
- Hamnet – Max Richter
- One Battle After Another – Jonny Greenwood
Best cinematography: Sinners – Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Winner)
- Frankenstein – Dan Laustsen
- Marty Supreme – Darius Khondji
- One Battle After Another – Michael Bauman
- Train Dreams – Adolpho Veloso
Best film editing: One Battle After Another – Andy Jurgensen (Winner)
- F1 – Stephen Mirrione
- Marty Supreme – Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
- Sentimental Value – Olivier Bugge Coutté
- Sinners – Michael P Shawver
Best sound: F1 – Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A Rizzo and Juan Peralta (Winner)
- Frankenstein – Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke and Brad Zoern
- One Battle After Another – José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio and Tony Villaflor
- Sinners – Chris Welcker, Benjamin A Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor and Steve Boeddeker
- Sirât – Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas and Yasmina Praderas
Best visual effects: Avatar: Fire and Ash – Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett (Winner)
- F1 – Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington and Keith Dawson
- Jurassic World Rebirth – David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan and Neil Corbould
- Sinners – Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter and Donnie Dean
- The Lost Bus – Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen and Brandon K McLaughlin
Best production design: Frankenstein – Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau (Winner)
- Hamnet – Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton
- Marty Supreme – Jack Fisk and Adam Willis
- One Battle After Another – Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino
- Sinners – Hannah Beachler and Monique Champagne
Best casting: One Battle After Another – Cassandra Kulukundis (Winner)
- Hamnet – Nina Gold
- Marty Supreme – Jennifer Venditti
- Sinners – Francine Maisler
- The Secret Agent – Gabriel Domingues
Best make-up and hairstyling: Frankenstein – Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey (Winner)
- Kokuho – Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino and Tadashi Nishimatsu
- Sinners – Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine and Shunika Terry
- The Smashing Machine – Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein
- The Ugly Stepsister – Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg
Best costume design: Frankenstein – Kate Hawley (Winner)
- Avatar: Fire and Ash – Deborah L Scott
- Hamnet – Malgosia Turzanska
- Marty Supreme – Miyako Bellizz
- Sinners – Ruth E Carter
Best animated short: The Girl Who Cried Pearls (Winner)
- Butterfly
- Forevergreen
- Retirement Plan
- The Three Sisters
Best live action short: The Singers, Two People Exchanging Saliva (Winners)
- A Friend of Dorothy
- Butcher’s Stain
- Jane Austen’s Period Drama
Best documentary short: All the Empty Rooms (Winner)
- Perfectly a Strangeness
- Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
- Children No More: Were and Are Gone
- The Devil Is Busy
