Culture & Leisure

The "most colourful" night of Hollywood is over and all awards this year are presented. The Shape of Water, the movie with 13 nominations, is the biggest winner of the night bringing home four trophies. Here is the list of Oscars 2018 nominations with the winners bold: Best Picture: Call Me by Your Name Darkest Hour Dunkirk Get Out Lady Bird Phantom Thread The Post The Shape of Water Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri BREAKING: The #Oscar for Best Picture goes to “The Shape of Water.” https://t.co/KyJELjJlTS #Oscars pic.twitter.com/VncaRPrsXU — ABC News (@ABC) March 5, 2018 During the Cold War era in Baltimore in 1962, lonely and mute Elisa (Sally Hawkins) works as a cleaning lady in a high-security government laboratory. Her life forever alters when she and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) discover a secret project where a mythical humanoid amphibian, living underwater, was held captive, experimented on and then tortured. With the help of Zelda and Giles (Richard Jenkins), Elisa rescues the creature to her own home against life-threatening odds. As the two forms a deeper bond, a romance that transcends race and species unfolds. Director Guillermo del Toro​ dedicates his Best Picture Oscar for 'The Shape of Water' to 'every young filmmaker.' "This is a door, kick it open and come in." #Oscars A post shared by ABC News (@abcnews) on Mar 4, 2018 at 9:05pm PST Lead Actor: Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq. Gary Oldman thanks his 98-year-old mother. "Thank you for your love and support. Put the kettle on. I'm bringing Oscar home." https://t.co/lJd891ISOk #Oscars pic.twitter.com/N3HLidEb0t — ABC News (@ABC) March 5, 2018 Lead Actress: Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri …

Nominating only actors of European descent in the lead and supporting categories in 2015 and 2016, the Academy Awards were accused over the past few years of being too "white" and have received years of backfire and boycotts. Even the host Jimmy Kimmel made fun of that "whiter than white" phenomenon at last year's presentation. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences then became rivetingly diverse last year, aiming to escape from the #OscarsSoWhite scandal with seven nominations of coloured actors; Moonlight also won Best Picture although its way towards the trophy was a downright blooper because it got mixed up with La La Land. 90 years ago, this was the first joke ever told at the #Oscars! pic.twitter.com/NWP8F6dYl3 — ABC Network (@ABCNetwork) March 5, 2018 Its board of governors also approved in a unanimous vote on January 18 this year to alter its membership composition for the sake of increasing its diversity, committing to doubling the number of female and minority Oscars voters by 2020. And thanks to the spectacular performances of Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.),  Mary J. Blige (Mudbound), Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water) and the nomination of Mudbound, the Academy Awards seem to have succeeded in getting rid of being #OscarsSoWhite this time. Unfortunately, it seems that there is still a lack of some oriental tenor in the nominations. Asians have been denied altogether of any nomination of main acting categories. Lebanon's The Insult, directed by cinematographer Ziad Doueiri, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, is imbued with the most noticeable sense of "eastern" ambience. This Near Eastern drama has earned a "certified fresh" with an approval rating of 88% based on 69 reviews from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and an audience score of 92%. "The Insult uses its familiar …

The 90th Academy Awards are just a few hours away. As the people of Hollywood get prepared for their big night. Much like the previous years, there are many speculations as to what people will wear, what the host, Jimmy Kimmel, will be saying, what topics would be mentioned during acceptance speeches, and most of all, who will be the winners. While we will have to wait until 5 pm PST on Sunday, March 4 (9 am HKT on Monday, March 5), editors Angie Chan and Ezra Cheung sat down with The Young Reporter's Editor-in-Chief Holly Chik and discussed the upcoming Oscars, before their live-streams on Facebook during the event. A: Angie Chan       E: Ezra Cheung       H: Holly Chik H: What makes the 90th Academy Awards so significant? E: I think it's fairly important because the ceremony is held amidst the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, electrifying the whole American film industry. I am very curious about what one of the nominees, Meryl Streep, will say during the presentation (given she wins the Best Actress in a Leading Role). And besides, I did go to pretty much all of the films nominated. The race is fairly competitive and I am looking forward to (the announcement of) the winners. A: Well, it's the 90th Academy Awards, the number itself makes it significant. *laughs* I think with so much happening in Hollywood, it would be hard for the celebs not to be political one way or the other, and I think how they represent their stance will be what makes this year extra significant 'cause what these important figures of the entertainment industry say will easily determine the general public's view. And I think seeing Jimmy Kimmel a second time would be quite interesting as well considering his kind of awkward …