Spotlight wins Best Picture at the 2016 Academy Awards plus full winners list

By Alexandra Heilbron on February 29, 2016 | 4 Comments

The 88th Academy Awards got off to a great start as host Chris Rock addressed the controversy about the absence of black nominees. He joked that in 88 years, the “whole no black nominee thing has happened at least 71 other times.” He reasoned that in earlier years, blacks didn’t protest because they had “real things to protest at the time.” He also joked that this year, things were going to be a little different, saying, “In the ‘In Memoriam’ package, it’s just going to be black people that was shot by the cops on their way to the movies.”

There were inventive additions this year, such as text boxes with information about each presenter as they appeared onscreen. Also, as soon as each winner was announced, a long list of people they wanted to thank scrolled across the screen. The music as presenters walked on stage and winners walked off stage was from Oscar-nominated movies through the years — a nice touch.

The biggest surprise of the night came at the very end, when Spotlight won Best Picture. Other surprises were Mark Rylance winning a much-deserved Best Supporting Actor for his wonderful performance in Bridge of Spies — Sylvester Stallone was expected to win — and Alicia Vikander winning Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Danish Girl.

Mad Max: Fury Road won the most awards, with six Oscars in craft categories. The Revenant was closest with three, including Best Director and front runner in the Best Actor category, Leonardo DiCaprio. Also as expected, Best Actress went to Brie Larson for her amazing performance in the indie drama Room.

Full list of Oscar winners:

Best Picture
Spotlight

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Best Actress
Brie Larson, Room

Best Supporting Actor
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Best Supporting Actress
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant

Best Animated Feature Film
Inside Out, Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera

Best Cinematography
The Revenant, Emmanuel Lubezki

Best Costume Design
Mad Max: Fury Road, Jenny Beavan

Best Documentary Feature
Amy, Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees

Best Documentary Short Subject
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Best Visual Effects
Ex Machina, Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett

Best Music (Original Score)
The Hateful Eight, Ennio Morricone

Best Music (Original Song)
“Writing’s on the Wall,” Spectre, Music and Lyric by Sam Smith, Jimmy Napes

Best Animated Short Film
Bear Story, Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala

Best Live Action Short Film
Stutterer, Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

Best Sound Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road, Mark Mangini and David White

Best Sound Mixing
Mad Max: Fury Road, Ben Osmo, Chris Jenkins and Gregg Rudloff

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
The Big Short, Charles Randolph and Adam McKay

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Spotlight, Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer

Best Production Design
Mad Max: Fury Road, Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson

Best Film Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road, Margaret Sixel

Best Foreign Language Film
Son of Saul, Hungary

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Mad Max: Fury Road, Lesley Vanderwalt, Damian Martin and Elka Wardega

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1. Vivian O'Connor • February 29, 2016 @ 1:28 AM

   DeCaprio for BA???? Talk about a pity vote 😛 That was the worst point of the whole thing. Very disappointing.

2. DM • February 29, 2016 @ 3:10 AM

   The Revenant took 3 not 4 awards.

3. DM • February 29, 2016 @ 3:12 AM

   Fassbender should have won for BA.

4. Notsofast • March 1, 2016 @ 8:15 PM

   Pity vote? Really? It is DiCaprio, not DeCaprio.
   He was nominated 6 times, so it was about time.
   He put in the time, skill, and effort.
   The movie may not have been amazing, but he did a great job.
   Apparently, the Academy thought so too.

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