The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in the film industry. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious and significant awards in the entertainment industry worldwide. Given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the awards are an international recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette as a trophy, officially called the "Academy Award of Merit", although more commonly referred to by its nickname, the "Oscar". The statuette depicts a knight rendered in the Art Deco style.
Gladys Marie Smith, known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the American film industry, she co-founded Pickford–Fairbanks Studios and United Artists, and was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Pickford is considered to be one of the most recognisable women in history.
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and a tenured professor at NYU. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut with She's Gotta Have It (1986). He has since written and directed such films as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Crooklyn (1994), Clockers (1995), 25th Hour (2002), Inside Man (2006), Chi-Raq (2015), BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Da 5 Bloods (2020). Lee also acted in eleven of his feature films. A host of A-list actors, Black and non-Black, had breakthrough performances or received critical acclaim from appearances in his films including actors Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Annabella Sciorri, Samuel L. Jackson, Rosie Perez, and John David Washington.
William Bradley Pitt is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Golden Globe Awards for his acting, in addition to a second Academy Award, a second British Academy Film Award, a third Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award as a producer under his production company, Plan B Entertainment.
Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times said Ebert "was without question the nation's most prominent and influential film critic," and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called him "the best-known film critic in America."
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the Toy Story franchise, it was the first entirely computer-animated feature film, as well as the first feature film from Pixar. The film was directed by John Lasseter and written by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow from a story by Lasseter, Stanton, Pete Docter, and Joe Ranft. The film features music by Randy Newman, was produced by Bonnie Arnold and Ralph Guggenheim, and was executive-produced by Steve Jobs and Edwin Catmull. The film features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Jim Varney, Annie Potts, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, and Erik von Detten. Taking place in a world where toys come to life when humans are not present, the plot focuses on the relationship between an old-fashioned pull-string cowboy doll named Woody and a modern astronaut action figure, Buzz Lightyear, as they evolve from rivals competing for the affections of their owner, Andy Davis, to friends who work together to be reunited with Andy after being separated from him.
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category in which every member of the Oscars is eligible to submit a nomination and vote on the final ballot. The Best Picture category is usually the final award of the night and is widely considered as the most prestigious honor of the ceremony.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is a 1927 American silent romantic drama directed by German director F. W. Murnau and starring George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, and Margaret Livingston. The story was adapted by Carl Mayer from the short story "The Excursion to Tilsit", from the 1917 collection with the same title by Hermann Sudermann.
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith is an English actress. With an extensive career on screen and stage beginning in the mid-1950s, Smith has appeared in more than 60 films and 70 plays. She is one of the few artists to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, having received highest achievement for film, television and theatre, winning two Academy Awards, a Tony Award and four Primetime Emmy Awards. She is also a recipient of various accolades including seven BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and five Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 1996 she was honored with the BAFTA Fellowship. Hailed as one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990 for contributions to the Arts, and a Companion of Honour in 2014 for services to Drama.
Helen Hayes MacArthur was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. She was also the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting; as of December 2020, the only other person to have accomplished both is Rita Moreno. Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986. In 1988, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Hoop Dreams is a 1994 American documentary film directed by Steve James, and produced by Frederick Marx, James, and Peter Gilbert, with Kartemquin Films. It follows the story of two African-American high school students, William Gates and Arthur Agee, in Chicago and their dream of becoming professional basketball players.
Walter Andrew Brennan was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in Come and Get It (1936), Kentucky (1938), and The Westerner (1940), making him one of only three male actors to win three Academy Awards, and the only male or female actor to win three awards in the supporting actor category. Brennan was also nominated for his performance in Sergeant York (1941). Other noteworthy performances were in To Have and Have Not (1944), My Darling Clementine (1946), Red River (1948), and Rio Bravo (1959).
Battle for Life is a nature documentary series made from 1932 until 1934 by Horace Woodard and Stacy Woodard, The short films include the 1935 Oscar award-winning City of Wax, about honey bees. The one-reel short films were released by Educational Pictures. A homemade camera setup for closeups was used. The Woodards followed the series with another series titled Struggle to Live.
Declaration of Independence is a 1938 American short drama film directed by Crane Wilbur. It won an Academy Award at the 11th Academy Awards in 1939 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel), and has been credited as being one of the few films relating to the American Revolution to win this award.
Hitler Lives is a 1945 American short documentary film directed by Don Siegel, who was uncredited. The film won an Oscar at the 18th Academy Awards in 1946 for Documentary Short Subject. Earlier the same year, Siegel made his directorial debut on another short film Star in the Night (1945), which also won an Academy Award. The film's copyright was renewed.
Strikes and Spares is a 1934 American short sports film directed by Felix E. Feist and starring Pete Smith and Andy Varipapa. In 1934, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Novelty) at the 7th Academy Awards.
Oh, My Nerves is a 1935 American short comedy film directed by Del Lord. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 8th Academy Awards, held in March 1936, for Best Short Subject (Comedy). The Academy Film Archive preserved Oh, My Nerves in 2012.
Third Dimensional Murder (1941), also known as Murder in 3-D, is a 3D short comedy film produced and narrated by Pete Smith and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is the last of the Audioscopiks 3D short film series, after Audioscopiks (1936) and The New Audioscopiks (1938).
Whiplash is a 2014 American psychological drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle, and starring Miles Teller, J. K. Simmons, Paul Reiser and Melissa Benoist. The film follows ambitious music student and jazz drummer Andrew Neiman (Teller), who is pushed to his limit by his abusive instructor Terence Fletcher (Simmons) at the fictional Shaffer Conservatory in New York City.
The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films released between March 1 and December 31, 2021, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 27, 2022, by presenting Academy Awards to the winners. The ceremony was hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes. It was the first ceremony since the 83rd Academy Awards in 2011 to feature multiple hosts.
