On March 15, 2026, the 98th Academy Awards were hosted by Conan O’Brien at the Dolby Theatre. The ceremony was full of lively speeches, expressive moments, and the celebration of impactful and amazing filmmaking. O’Brien made a heartfelt appreciation to the international filmmakers and honored them for the challenging times international countries are facing. To keep the night going, he filled the room with humorous jokes and shared his thanks to the evolving Hollywood directors.
The Oscars started out the evening acknowledging the international filmmakers for their amazing work. The Best International Feature was awarded to the film “Sentimental Value” a film out of Norway directed by Joachim Trier. Although, the film “The Secret Agent” directed by Keller Mendonça Filho was a nominee, it sadly was not picked as the recipient of the award.
“One Battle After Another” took a huge turn in the evening when the film won the newest category of the Oscars called Best Casting and was awarded to Casandra Kulukundis. The film also earned many more awards, the ones highlighted were Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Sean Penn), and Best Adapted Screenplay. This has been a long-waited achievement for Director Paul Thomas Anderson for years to be awarded the Best Director Award.
Ryan Coogler the director of the film “Sinners” was awarded a vast majority of awards throughout the night. To highlight the night, producers of the film decided to reenact the juke club scene to acknowledge everyone who took part in the soundtrack and the film overall. Michael B. Jordan started out as a blockbuster actor and this film him to become an award-winning actor, performing as two characters Stack and Smoke. The film “Sinners” won Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and many more.
There was only one winner for the Best Actress category and out of all the nominees Jessie Buckley from the film “Hamnet” won that evening. Her role as Agnes was emotionally powerful. As for Best Supporting Actress Amy Madigan from the film “Weapons” was awarded the win in this category. She shared that she believed that every female from that category should have been awarded for their hard work they put into their roles.
The Oscar’s didn’t only highlight and give awards to achieving films but to other filmmaking genres. For Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song “K-Pop Demon Hunters” was awarded for Netflix’s hit family movie and trending song “Golden”. Best Visuals Effects was awarded to the film “Avatar: Fire and Ash”. Best Costume Design was awarded to Kate Hawley for the film “Frankenstein”, with the film also winning Best Makeup and Hairstyling. To top their award season off “Frankenstien” was awarded with Best Production Design. For Animated Short Film, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski were awarded for their film “The Girl Who Cried Pearls”. For the Documentary category Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones were awarded for their short film “All the Empty Rooms”.
The 2026 Oscar Awards wasn’t just about celebrating movies, but about thanking and addressing issues such as representation, creativity within each film, and overall, the storytelling behind each film made in 2025. Instead of awarding one film, many different films and genres were awarded. Making the Oscar’s a more inclusive event for filmmakers to attend and for viewers to watch and enjoy.
