Hollywood’s biggest night just took place and while there weren’t any show-stopping physical altercations, it was very much a ceremony to remember. Mexican director Guillermo del Toro won Best Animated Feature for his stop-motion film Pinocchio, becoming the first filmmaker to ever win Best Picture, Best Director and Best Animated Feature. Del Toro shared with The Hollywood Reporter that he is excited for the future of stop-motion and is working to promote this art form among underserved communities. “I have right now two scholarships active for filmmakers, and it is my desire and my commitment now to finance a stop-motion class [in Mexico],” he told the outlet. “It will help us give more movies to the community in Mexico and in Latin America, to keep pushing for stop motion, which is one of the most democratic forms of animation. All the other forms of animation are too difficult or too expensive. But a kid can put a camera on the wall in their room, they can do animation in stop motion.”
Guillermo del Toro poses backstage with the Oscar® for Animated Feature Film during the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.
The red carpet (or should we say champagne?) was a showcase of art and beauty with standouts including first-time Oscars nominee Ana de Armas who was in the running for Best Actress for her performance as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. The Cuban actress made her big entrance wearing a silver mermaid-style gown by Louis Vuitton that Cosmopolitan described as giving “major bridal vibes.” Sofia Carson was looking stunning as usual and was even dubbed a “modern princess” by Entertainment Tonight. The Colombian-American artist wore a pearl off-the-shoulder ball gown by Italian designer Giambattista Valli paired with an emerald-and-diamonds Chopard necklace. Carson performed “Applause” from the film Tell It Like Woman along with songwriter Diane Warren. “I still pinch myself about the very real reality that I am talking about the Oscars,” Carson told The Hollywood Reporter.
Ana de Armas arrives on the red carpet of The 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.
Among the presenters, Mexican icon Salma Hayek Pinault and man of the hour Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal stole the night. Hayek Pinault wore a red sequined Gucci dress and color-coordinated with her 15-year-old daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault who wore a red strapless dress. Pascal attended the Oscars as presenter for the Best Animated Short and Best Documentary Short categories but also as the proud brother of an Oscar nominee. His sister, Javiera Balmaceda, is Amazon Studios’ head of local originals for Latin America and contributed to the Oscar-nominated Argentine film Argentina, 1985 which was running for Best International Film.
Brian Tyree Henry, Ana De Armas, Salma Hayek and Pedro Pascal accept the Oscar® for Directing during the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once won a stunning seven Oscars, including the night’s most coveted award, Best Picture. While the cast is mostly Asian, some cast members have Latin American connections. Harry Shum Jr., who plays the chef in the movie’s iconic Ratatouille parody scene, was born in Limón, Costa Rica to Chinese immigrant parents. In an interview with Da Man, the former “Glee” star shared that he grew up in Costa Rica until he was 6 years old when his family made the move to San Francisco. “Spanish was my first language, but my vocabulary shrank when I moved to the U.S. and had to learn Chinese (Cantonese) and English. My parents still speak Spanish fluently and being yelled at by them in a trilingual home is a funny sight,” Shum Jr. told the outlet. Another cast member who has Latin roots is Tallie Medel, who plays Joy’s girlfriend Becky. In the movie, Evelyn bursts at her daughter for having a white girlfriend to which Joy responds that Becky is half Mexican. “Daniel added that line for me, because I am half Mexican,” Medel told the LA Times. “That meant the world to me.”
Alejandra Arevalo is a Peruvian UX/UI designer and multimedia journalist based in Cambridge, MA.
