‘Roma’, ‘The Favourite’ emerge favourites in diverse 91st Oscar nominations

Los Angeles: 30/1/19:Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma”, a memoir of his childhood in 1970s while living in Mexico, and Olivia Colman’s period drama “The Favourite”, are in a tie with 10 nominations each for the 91st Academy Awards, where an India-set drama on menstruation, apart from three films backed by Reliance Entertainment, will contend for Oscars — lending a touch of diversity to the line-up.

Kumail Nanjiani and Tracee Ellis Ross on Tuesday announced the nominations for the Oscars on behalf of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Even though India’s official entry for the Oscars, Rima Das’ Assamese film “Village Rockstars”, failed to make it to the initial shortlist, “Period. End of Sentence”, an India set film on the taboos around menstruation and featuring the real ‘Pad Man’ Arunachalam Muruganathan, has made it to the top five nominees of the Documentary Short Subject category.

Other nominees in the section include “Black Sheep”, “End Game”, “Lifeboat” and “A Night At The Garden”.

Ecstatic about making the cut, Indian producer Guneet Monga, who backed the project, told : “We made it… It is beyond everything we thought.”

Three films — “Green Book”, “First Man” and “Ready Player One” — backed by Anil Ambani-led Reliance Entertainment, have scored a total of 10 Oscar nominations.

“Green Book” finds a spot in five categories, “First Man” has got four and “Ready Player One” features in one category for the awards show, which will be held on February 24 and will air in India on Star Movies.

“It is exciting news and truly says a lot about how a compelling story always works. We are extremely proud to be associated with these films and we hope for the best,” Shibashish Sarkar, Chief Operating Officer, Reliance Entertainment.

The buzz around Cuaron’s Netflix film “Roma” is likely to get a fillip with the news of 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress In A Leading Role (Yalitza Aparicio) among others.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” and Christian Bale-starrer “Vice” have eight nominations each, followed by seven nominations for “Black Panther”, which has become the first superhero film ever to make it to the Best Picture category at the Oscars.

“BlacKkKlansman”, a story about an African-American police officer, has scored six nominations, followed by five nominations for “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Green Book”, and a tie for “First Man and “Mary Poppins Returns” with four mentions each.

This year’s ceremony will take place on 24 February in the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

List of key nominations

Best picture

Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star is Born
Vice

Best director

Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)
Adam McKay (Vice)
Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)
Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)
Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War)

Best actor

Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Christian Bale (Vice)
Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)
Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)
Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate)

Best actress

Glenn Close (The Wife)
Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)
Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Yalitza Aparicio (Roma)

Best supporting actor

Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Richard E Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Sam Elliott (A Star Is Born)
Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman)
Sam Rockwell (Vice)

Best supporting actress

Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)
Amy Adams (Vice)
Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Marina De Tavira (Roma)

Best adapted screenplay

If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins)
A Star Is Born (Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters and Eric Roth)
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty)
BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel and Kevin Willmott)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

Best original screenplay

Green Book (Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga)
The Favourite (Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara)
Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
Vice (Adam McKay)
First Reformed (Paul Schrader)

Best animated feature

Incredibles 2
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Isle of Dogs
Mirai

Best documentary

Free Solo
Minding the Gap
RBG
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Of Fathers and Sons

Best foreign language film

Roma (Mexico)
Cold War (Poland)
Shoplifters (Japan)
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Never Look Away (Germany)