For the 96th Academy Awards, one of the most prestigious and established events in the film industry, the red carpet has been unveiled. It’s an evening filled with glamour, artistic talent, and controversy as some of the biggest movies in the world and in the US vie for the coveted Oscar statuettes. The highly anticipated contest for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, which will take place in Los Angeles, California, will include box office rivals Barbie and Oppenheimer competing against one another. Some categories are more difficult to predict, such as the two leading actor categories, where Oppenheimer is the early favorite to win.
Even though the Oscars have come to represent glamour and elegance, they had quite modest beginnings. A throng of celebrities dressed in black were crammed into Hollywood’s Roosevelt Hotel in May 1929 for the inaugural Academy Awards presentation. The cost of the tickets was $5. The event, presented by Hollywood actor Douglas Fairbanks, lasted an only fifteen minutes — a far cry from the event’s current runtime of more than three hours. Of course, it helped that a bulletin had announced the winners three months earlier. The Oscars were established at the beginning of Hollywood’s tectonic shift with the introduction of sound movies. The Jazz Singer, which is regarded as the first “talkie” in cinema history, was one of the movies nominated for that first ceremony in 1927.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a professional organization for filmmakers that recognizes accomplishments in the field, is referred to as the “Academy” in the award name. The 36 founding members of the Academy, which was established in 1927, were writers, directors, producers, and other professionals from the film business. Among them was the daring actor Douglas Fairbanks. Mary Pickford was also a silent film darling, however surprisingly, she was one of just three female actors out of 36. Even now, there is still criticism regarding the Academy’s membership’s representation.
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