Written by Jordan Ilan, Edited by Luke Brown and Nikki Wilks

From the Golden Globes, to the Oscars, and everything in-between, the 2023 awards season has provided many memorable moments. Below are thirteen moments which have defined this awards season, from the films themselves, to moments that occurred at the ceremonies

1. Andrea Riseborough’s campaign and the Best Actress controversies

Where else to start apart from this season’s biggest talking point. Traditionally by December, all major contenders for awards season have been decided after the fall festival premieres and American cinema releases. However, character actress Andrea Riseborough only emerged as a contender for To Leslie just before Oscar voting opened in January. The film grossed just $27,000 at the US box-office, and many were unaware of its existence until A-list actors, including Edward Norton and Gwyneth Paltrow, started tweeting support for Riseborough’s performance. This started a week of major campaigning from Hollywood stars, including Kate Winslet stating Riseborough gave ‘the greatest female performance on-screen’ that she had ever seen. After this, Riseborough was shockingly nominated by the Oscars for Best Actress. However, this nomination, and Ana de Armas’ performance in the critically and commercially reviled Blonde, came at the expense of nominations for two acclaimed Black actresses, Danielle Deadwyler in Till and Viola Davis in The Woman King. This caused a major stir online as audiences, and many African American filmmakers, criticised the Academy, leading to AMPAS investigating whether Riseborough’s campaign violated Academy rules. The campaign was perceived as a “grassroots” campaign, but it was revealed that a targeted campaign, led by Mary McCormack, hosted screenings that broke Academy rules, and tweets were posted by other actors that revealed how to vote for Riseborough and who not to vote for. This caused controversy but AMPAS’ investigation stated they wouldn’t rescind Riseborough’s nomination, although it is very likely that campaign rules will be changed and clarified for future Oscars.

2. Surprise Nominees and Snubs

The Golden Globes nominated less stars than usual, snubbing both Will Smith (Emancipation) and Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick). The Screen Actors Guild went crazy for Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Banshees of Inisherin as they became the 4^th and 5^th films to score five nominations. However, the biggest surprises occurred at the BAFTAs and Oscars. The BAFTA longlist saw shocking omissions for Steven Spielberg in director for The Fabelmans, and Olivia Colman in actress for Empire of Light, whilst films including Aftersun and Living arguably overperformed. This year, the BAFTA longlist categories were shortened from 15 to 10 potential nominees, preventing the chance for lesser-known films such as Blue Jean to breakthrough in the major categories. At the Oscars, there were surprise lone nominees for Paul Mescal (Aftersun) and Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway). Last year saw Judi Dench score a surprise nominee for Belfast over co-star Caitriona Balfe, and this year saw a similar situation as Judd Hirsch scored a surprise nomination for The Fabelmans over co-star Paul Dano.

3. Netflix’s Top Contender

After failing to become the first streaming platform to win the Best Picture Oscar (which went to AppleTV+ with Coda last year), Netflix’s search for a film to win this award continued. Originally, Bardo and White Noise looked like the studio’s main players but both underwhelmed with their Venice Film Festival premieres. After receiving warm receptions from critics and audiences, it looked like either Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story or Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio could be their big contender. What few expected though, was All Quiet on the Western Front emerging as their main contender. The film was released on Netflix in mid-October and showed early signs of strengths after receiving 14 nominations at the BAFTAs and winning 7 (including Best Picture and Best Director). It went on to be the second biggest winner at the Oscars and Netflix’s most awarded film, winning 4 categories.

4. This Had Oscar Buzz

Many films receive heavy Oscar buzz based on the pedigree of the director and the cast. However, due to tepid reviews or an inability to find an audience, Empire of Light, Bardo, The Son, The Greatest Beer Run Ever and White Noise scored 2 nominations between them. Other films that flatlined during awards season included the starry ensemble of Amsterdam, and the biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Babylon was also anointed as a major contender at the start of the season, but the film only received recognition in the technical categories.

5. Host Monologues and Sketches

Overall, the host monologues and sketches from this awards season were well received by audiences, but some moments made headlines. Firstly, at the Golden Globes, host Jerrod Carmichael made a comment about Tom Cruise returning his Golden Globe awards, proceeding to reference Shelly Miscavige’s disappearance (the former wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige). This risky joke raised greater attention about Cruise’s Scientology background and set a precedent for the rest of awards season. Reportedly, Cruise skipped the Oscars after believing Judd Apatow, who made negative comments about Cruise when hosting this year’s Directors Guild Awards, was helping write Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue.

Another surprising moment occurred at the Independent Spirit Awards, where Hasan Minhaj’s sketch trying to get stars to make YouTube thumbnail faces went horribly wrong. This moment caused actresses including Cate Blanchett and Regina Hall to hide underneath tables to avoid taking part, leading to an awkward silence and an uncomfortable transition to the next part of the show.

6. Speeches: From 30 Seconds to Unlimited

Speeches are always some of the most talked about moments of awards season. This season saw many memorable moments from actors, such as Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh, giving passionate speeches. However, as broadcasters need to make time for advertisements, many speeches were cut off early. This was most prominent at the Golden Globes, where many winners’ speeches were cut off within 30 seconds. This led to winners such as Colin Farrell and Michelle Yeoh continuing to speak over music, with the latter jokingly stating “Shut up. I can beat you up”. On the other hand, Netflix’s acquisition of the Screen Actors Guild awards gave actors the opportunity to speak for as long as they wanted. The Oscars mostly went well in this regard, but some winners in the technical categories didn’t get the chance to speak.

7. BAFTAs So White

One of the biggest controversies of this season occurred at the BAFTAs. The BAFTA nominations were some of the most diverse in history, however all 49 awards went to white people. The BAFTAs failed to award films with a diverse cast and crew, including Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Woman King. This caused a social media storm, highlighting how progress still needs to be made at these award shows.

8. Ariana DeBose’s BAFTA Rap

Overall, the BAFTAs ceremony was surprisingly messy, from the winners’ controversies, to a poor awards format that alternated between the awards and backstage interviews. However, one moment that went viral was Ariana DeBose’s opening performance that celebrated women in the industry, namedropping many of the female nominees. The initial reactions were negative, leading to DeBose deactivating her Twitter account. Consequently, the tide turned, and the performance was perceived as purely camp, and a fun moment, with lines such as “Angela Bassett did the thing” and “Jamie Lee you are all of us” being referenced at following award ceremonies.

9. BAFTA announcing the wrong winner (Off-screen)

Whilst there was no Moonlight/La La Land moment this year, this came dangerously close to happening. The BAFTAs are usually aired on a time delay, so that producers can edit the show. However, DeBose’s BAFTA rap line of “Kerry and Carey with a C” foreshadowed a near disastrous moment. Troy Kotsur started signing Kerry Condon’s name to announce her as the winner of Best Supporting Actress, but the interpreter mistakenly announced Carey Mulligan as the winner. Reportedly, the mistake was rectified immediately, and Mulligan remained seated. This moment was edited out of the broadcast (the winner announcement went straight from the opening of the envelope to the speech), and most viewers were unaware this moment happened.

10. BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Provide Very Different Winners

By the time of the Oscars, most categories have a clear frontrunner. However, for the first time since 2002, there were no sweeps in any of the major categories at the precursors. This was most prominent at the BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild (SAG), where each group went for a different set of winners (Butler/Blanchett/Keoghan/Condon won BAFTAs, Fraser/Yeoh/Quan/Curtis won at SAG). The best supporting actress category was especially competitive, with Condon, Curtis and Bassett all winning. The BAFTAs are traditionally the precursor that is renowned for calling the right winners during split-races. However, the SAG winners were repeated at the Oscars. This was the first time since 1997 that the BAFTAs awarded different winners to the Oscars in all 8 major categories.

11. Everything Everywhere All at Once‘s Oscar Sweep

Many recent Oscar ceremonies have split the wealth, as the major contenders all won Oscars. This year, Everything Everywhere All at Once broke many statistics after winning 7 Oscars. The film was the biggest above-the-line sweeper ever, winning 6 above-the-line categories. It was the first film to win 3 acting awards since Network in 1976, and it scored the most wins for a Best Picture winner since Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. After CODA became the first Best Picture winner to premiere at Sundance, Everything Everywhere All at Once became the first winner to premiere at SXSW. Quan was the first acting Oscar winner born in Vietnam, and Yeoh was the first acting Oscar winner born in Malaysia. Yeoh was also the first Asian actress to win Best Actress and was only the second woman of colour to win this award, after Halle Berry won over 20 years ago. This led to poignant speeches on the night, including Berry presenting Yeoh with her award. This ceremony also marked the first time a studio has won all 6 major categories, as A24 produced both Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Whale.

12. Oscars Best Picture Contenders’ Shutout

Everything Everywhere All at Once’s sweep, meant that many of the major contenders went home emptyhanded. Five of the best picture nominees scored 33 nominations combined but received no wins. Triangle of Sadness winning nothing was expected, whilst Tar and The Fabelmans were only expected to be competitive in Actress and Score. The Fabelmans was initially perceived as the Best Picture frontrunner, after its festival premiere in Toronto in September, but it became the first Golden Globe Best Picture drama winner since the 1970s to win nothing at the Oscars. Surprisingly, going home empty handed were The Banshees of Inisherin and Elvis. The Banshees of Inisherin was one of the most acclaimed films from this season. However, competing with Everything Everywhere All at Once in most categories, the Academy couldn’t find a place to reward the film. Elvis losing all eight of its nominations was shocking: the film was considered the frontrunner in Actor, Make-Up and Hairstyling, and Costume Design, but ended up losing all these categories.

13. The Oscars Ceremony… Runs Smoothly

Finally, the biggest surprise of this awards season was the fact that the Oscars ceremony telecast went without anything major going wrong. This was a major difference from the past couple of years, which were affected by COVID, slaps, moving categories to ad-breaks, and manipulating the running order of awards to create an emotional ending (which didn’t occur when the Academy’s expected winner lost). By letting the ceremony focus on the winners and a back-to-basics approach, including former host Jimmy Kimmel returning, this year’s ceremony was surprisingly solid with the attention staying focused on the movies.