MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences sprang a few surprises at the Oscar Awards today. For starters, it rechristened the foreign language film category to best international feature film. It took that renaming pretty seriously by showering the South Korean film Parasite with oodles of major awards: best picture, best screenplay, best international feature film, and best director (Bong Joon-ho).

For the South Korean entry, it was history in the making as it is the first international film to win an Oscar for best feature. Joon-ho will go down in the history books: he is the second director of Asian descent to take home an Oscar; Ang Lee was the first with English language films Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi. He is also the second helmer of a foreign language film to be accorded that honour; the first being Alfonso Cuarón for Roma. “I will be drinking in the after party,” he said to the merriment of all the Hollywood stars present at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Another surprise was the near total shunning of Netflix’s entries. Estimates are that the streaming giant spent nearly $70 million (ref: The Verge) in its campaign for the Oscar. It was nominated in 24 categories, but it could get its hands on only two of the statuettes: that for American Factory (Best Documentary produced by the former president and first lady Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company) and Laura Dern (best supporting actress for her role in Marriage Story).

The other big winners: Brad Pitt (best supporting actor in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Taiki Waititi (best adapted screenplay for Jojo Rabbit), and Renee Zellweger (best actress for her portrayal of Judy Garland in Judy),  Joaquin Phoenix (for his near-perfect performance as the lead actor in the billion-dollar plus grossing Joker), best film editing  and sound editing (Ford vs Ferrari), original score (Joker, Hildur Guðnadóttir), Best animated feature (Toy Story4), best visual FX (1917), Sound Mixing (1917).

Phoenix spoke about how we need to live responsibly, respect nature, our resources, and how compassion and love can go a long way in his acceptance speech, in a departure from most other speeches which consisted of thanking the academy or peers or the technical, cast and crew of the film.

The Oscar ceremony was telecast on Hotstar and Star World in India earlier this morning with advertisers like Kia Motors, Cred, Amazon Prime Video's Hunters, Lenovo, Dyson, Jack Daniels coming on board.

The full list of 2020 Oscar winners

Best picture

Parasite- Winner
1917
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
Ford v Ferrari

Best actor

Joaquin Phoenix, Joker -Winner
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

Best actress

Renée Zellweger, Judy- Winner
Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Charlize Theron, Bombshell
Saoirse Ronan, Little Women

Best director
Bong Joon-ho, Parasite- Winner
Sam Mendes, 1917
Todd Phillips, Joker
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood

Best supporting actress

Laura Dern, Marriage Story-Winner
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Margot Robbie, Bombshell
Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit

Best supporting actor

Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood- Winner
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

International feature film

South Korea, Parasite-Winner
France, Les Misérables
North Macedonia, Honeyland
Poland, Corpus Christi
Spain, Pain and Glory

Documentary short feature

Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)- Winner
In the Absence
Life Overtakes Me
St. Louis Superman
Walk Run Cha-Cha

Documentary feature

American Factory-Winner
The Cave
The Edge of Democracy
For Sama
Honeyland

Animated feature film

Toy Story 4-Winner
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
I Lost My Body
Klaus
Missing Link

Music (original song)

"(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" from Rocketman-Winner
"I'm Standing With You" from Breakthrough
"Into The Unknown" from Frozen II
"Stand Up" from Harriet
"I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away" from Toy Story 4
"Glasgow" from Wild Rose

Music (original score)

Joker- Winner
Little Women
Marriage Story
1917
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Visual effects
1917- Winner
Avengers: Endgame
The Irishman
The Lion King
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best film editing

Ford v Ferrari- Winner
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Parasite

Best cinematography

Roger Deakins, 1917- Winner
Rodrigo Prieto, The Irishman
Lawrence Sher, Joker
Jarin Blaschke, The Lighthouse
Robert Richardson, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood

Best sound mixing

1917-Winner
Ad Astra
Joker
Ford v Ferrari
Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood

Best sound editing

Ford v Ferrari-Winner
1917
Joker
Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Makeup and hairstyling

Bombshell- Winner
Joker
Judy
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
1917

Best costume design

Jacqueline Durran, Little Women-Winner
Sandy Powell & Christopher Peterson, The Irishman
Mark Bridges, Joker
Arianne Phillips, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
Mayes C. Rubeo, Jojo Rabbit

Best production design

Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood-Winner
The Irishman
1917
Jojo Rabbit
Parasite

Live-action short film

The Neighbors' Window-Winner
Brotherhood
Nefta Football Club
Saria
A Sister

Best adapted screenplay

Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit-Winner
Steven Zaillian, The Irishman
Greta Gerwig, Little Women
Anthony McCarten, The Two Popes
Todd Phillips & Scott Silver, Joker

Best original screenplay

Bong Joon-ho, Parasite-Winner
Rian Johnson, Knives Out
Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story
Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns, 1917
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood

Animated short film

Hair Love- Winner
Dcera (Daughter)
Kitbull
Memorable
Sister