5 reasons to be excited about this year's Oscar nominations

To the nominations for the 96th Academy Awards were revealed last week and – as so often happens – caused quite a stir.

The omission of “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie in their respective individual categories – best director and best actress, respectively – and the best supporting actor nomination obtained by colleague Ryan Gosling certainly opened the door for a lot of news .

These slights aside, there's still reason to look at this year's nominees and see artists who will have standout (and in some cases, history-making) moments at this year's show.

Here are five reasons why we're unapologetically excited about the Oscars:

Justine Triet leads the selection of foreign films

After writer-director Justine Triet won the Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival for the searing French courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall,” all eyes were on the acclaimed film's performance on Oscar nomination day. .

Sure enough, Triet became only the eighth woman to achieve recognition in the best director category, and while that number remains an alarmingly insignificant number – and at least three of her contemporaries from last year were unfairly excluded from contention – her achievements should be celebrated .

Co-written and directed by Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall” was nominated for five Oscars this year in total, including best original screenplay and best picture. The film's star, German actress Sandra Hüller, is also up for an Oscar and appears in another foreign film competing for best film – “The Zone of Interest” (which, incidentally, came in second place, behind “Fall”). in Cannes).

And while it's unfortunate that more women weren't on the list alongside Triet for best director, overall, three of the films nominated for best picture this year were directed by women, which is a record. (“Barbie” and the Korean-American bilingual film “Past Lives” join “Anatomy of a Fall” in the category.)

Colman Domingo has already made history

A seasoned actor who has received praise and acclaim for eclectic roles in projects like HBO's “Euphoria” and Steven Spielberg's “Lincoln,” Domingo delivered a powerful performance as the anonymous activist Bayard Rustin in last year's Netflix film “Rustin.”

With his nomination, Domingo is the first Afro-Latino to be nominated for an Oscar for best leading actor. He is also only the second openly LGBTQ+ actor to be nominated for playing a gay character – Ian McKellen was the first, 25 years ago, for 1998's “Gods and Monsters.”

Jodie Foster was also nominated in the best supporting actress category for her portrayal of Bonnie Stoll in “Nyad.”

In a statement to CNN Anthony Allen Ramos, vice president of communications and talent at GLAAD, said their achievements “are making LGBTQ and film history while also serving as examples for LGBTQ talent around the world that living your life authentically can and must be received with great success.”

Ramos also acknowledged that the Academy “recognizing two outstanding actors for playing real-life LGBTQ icons reminds the industry at large that queer stories resonate with the general public and are worthy of celebration on the global stage.”

Cord Jefferson has his unique perspective as a black writer and artist

In the film “American Fiction,” a scathing commentary on racial representation, Jeffrey Wright stars as a frustrated black novelist who plays with stereotypes in a throwaway joke book he sends to his agent, just to see if it becomes a bestseller. The rise of filmmaker Cord Jefferson set the film world on fire, not unlike how his film's central, satirical romance sets the literary world on fire.

Jefferson explained to Esquire last year that the experiences he recounts in the film are close to those he himself experienced, as a former journalist turned television and film writer.

“It was about how I got to a point in my journalism career where, on a weekly basis, people would say to me, 'Do you want to write about the Trayvon Martin murder?' Do you want to write about Mike Brown's death?'” he explained.

“So when I got into film and television, people asked me, 'Do you want to write this movie about a teenager getting killed by a cop? Do you want to write this movie about a slave?'” he continued.

“Even in the world of fiction, where we can write anything, there is a limited understanding of what black life can be like. These were things I had been thinking about for decades.”

The film has already been nominated for five Oscars – including two for Jefferson, as writer of the adapted screenplay (based on the book “Erasure” by Percival Everett) and producer in the best picture category – along with acting nominations for lead actor Wright and supporting actor Sterling K. Brown.

John Williams enters the record books

At 91, John Williams — the iconic film composer responsible for the themes for countless films, including “Star Wars,” “Jaws,” “Superman,” “Jurassic Park” and more — is the oldest nominee in a film category. competitive awards, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organizes the Oscars.

With his nomination this year for “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” Williams received his 49th Oscar nomination for original score, bringing his total number of Oscar nominations throughout his career to 54, including some for best original song. . This gives Williams more Oscar nominations than any other person alive.

According to the Academy, the late Walt Disney holds the overall record for career nominations, with a grand total of 59. Still, 54 isn't bad at all for the decorated nonagenarian.

Danielle Brooks shines in a role that was almost predestined for her

After routinely stealing the show and being among the best parts of the hit series “Orange is the New Black” (who could forget Taystee?!) and “Peacemaker,” Brooks not only rose to the occasion to play the loud Sofia in the film adaptation from the Broadway musical “The Color Purple,” but soared with it.

And it was no easy task – one of the main producers of the project was none other than Oprah Winfrey, who launched her film career (and received an Oscar nomination in the same category) playing the same character in 1985 in the original film directed by Spielberg. Film “Purple”, based on the 1982 novel by Alice Walker.

Still, it seemed to be a role destined for Brooks, who received a Tony Award nomination in 2016 for playing the same character in the Broadway revival of the musical. But destiny goes even further. Brooks explained at a November screening of the film that seeing the original 2005 musical on Broadway “changed my world” as it was the first time she “saw people who looked like me” on stage.

Coincidentally, as a student, Brooks was enrolled at the prestigious Juilliard acting conservatory in New York City with Corey Hawkins, who would play Harpo, her character Sofia's husband, in the new film.