Moonlight outshines La La Land for best film

I realise at a moment like this is a huge confluence of luck and opportunity. I want to thank Damien Chazelle for giving me the opportunity to be part of the project that was so special and once in a life time. I am so grateful to be involved in this film and thank you for your patience. I still have a lot of growing and learning and work to do, and this guy (Ryan Gosling) is a really beautiful symbol to continue on that journey. -Emma Stone

People ask me all the time, 'What kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola?' And I say, exhume those bodies. Exhume those stories. The stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition. People who fell in love and lost. -Viola Davis

‘La La Land’ takes home six

Barry Jenkins' coming-of-age drama ‘Moonlight’ walked away with the top award at the Oscars after its victory thunder was stolen by a bizarre announcement mix-up that initially declared ‘La La Land’ as the best picture winner.

The final moment of the ceremony, which was held at Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday night and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, was full of confusion as Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly announced the name of ‘La La Land’. Apparently, they had the wrong envelope.

A shocked Jenkins said, "Even in my dreams, this cannot be true." He later told reporters that it was unfortunate that things happened the way they did but he was happy that they won best picture.

Jenkins and McCraney also won the best adapted screenplay while Mahershala Ali walked away with best supporting actor trophy becoming the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar.

‘La La Land’, a clear front-runner thanks to its winning momentum award-after-award, entered the race with record 14 nominations out of which it managed to win six including its score and theme song “City of Stars”.

Its director Damien Chazelle, 32, who has been called a Hollywood 'wunderkind' for his visionary style of story-telling, became the youngest director ever to win while film's leading star, Emma Stone won her first Oscar and took home the best actress trophy,

‘Manchester by the Sea’ star Casey Affleck won the best actor trophy for his portrayal of a grief-struck man. It was a close call for the actor as in the final days, he got a lot of negative press for 2010 sexual harassment allegations and many thought Denzel Washington may triumph over Affleck.

Viola Davis took away best supporting actress for ‘Fences’ becoming the first African American actress to win a Tony, an Emmy and Academy Award. In an eloquent speech, Davis, 51, highlighted the importance of telling diverse stories. She hailed her co-star and director Washington as 'O Captain! My Captain' and paid tribute to August Wilson for inspiring the movie with his play.

Meanwhile, ‘Zootopia’ won Best Animated Film and Iranian film ‘The Salesman’ by Asghar Farhadi, who skipped the ceremony in protest of US President Donald Trump's travel ban, won for Best Foreign Language Film.

Om Puri remembered

Om Puri, whose repertoire as an actor reflected a rare realism and was popular for films like ‘East Is East’, ‘Gandhi’, ‘City of Joy’ and ‘Wolf’, was honoured at ceremony in the "In Memoriam" montage.

Puri, who died after a heart attack in Mumbai in January earlier this year, got a musical tribute by Grammy and Tony-nominated singer and songwriter Sara Bareilles, who delivered a special performance of the Joni Mitchell song "Both sides now". A visibly emotional actress Jennifer Aniston introduced the memoriam segment.

Puri was included in the montage along with Carrie Fisher, Prince, Gene Wilder, Michael Cimino, Patty Duke, Garry Marshall, Anton Yelchin, Mary Tyler Moore, Curtis Hanson and John Hurt.

Roll of honour

Picture - 'Moonlight' by Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
Actress - Emma Stone, 'La La Land'
Actor - Casey Affleck, 'Manchester By The Sea'
Director - Damien Chazelle, 'La La Land'
Supporting Actress - Viola Davis, 'Fences'
Supporting Actor – Mahershala Ali, ‘Moonlight’
Adapted Screenplay - Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, 'Moonlight'
Original Screenplay - Kenneth Lonergan, 'Manchester By The Sea'
Original Song - 'City Of Stars' from 'La La Land' by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Original Score - Justin Hurwitz, 'La La Land'
Cinematography - Linus Sandgren, 'La La Land'
Live Action Short - 'Sing' by Kristof Deak and Anna Udvardy
Documentary Short - 'The White Helmets' by Orlando Von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Film Editing - John Gilbert, 'Hacksaw Ridge'
Visual Effects - Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R Jones and Dan Lemmon, 'The Jungle Book'
Production Design - David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, 'La La Land'
Animated Feature - 'Zootopia' by Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer
Animated Short - 'Piper' by Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer
Foreign Language Film - 'The Salesman' by Asghar Farhadi
Sound Mixing - Kevin O'Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace, 'Hacksaw Ridge'
Sound Editing - Sylvian Bellemare, 'Arrival'
Documentary Feature - Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow, ‘O J: Made In America'
Costume Design – Colleen Atwood, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’
Makeup & Hairstyling – Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson, ‘Suicide Squad’