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Oscars 2022 Winners: ‘CODA’ Wins Best Picture & ‘Dune’ Sweeps Craft Awards

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 27: (L-R) Eugenio Derbez, Sian Heder, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, Emilia Jones, Daniel Durant and Amy Forsyth, winners of the Best Picture award for ‘CODA’, pose in the press room at the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland on March 27, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images )

The 94th Annual Academy Awards took place last night, and while most of the attention has been paid to the already-infamous moment of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock onstage, plenty went on in the ceremony which ran about three and a half hours.

The big winners of the night were CODA, which won the prizes for Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture, and Dune, which won six awards out of technical categories. Several craft awards, and the ones for Short Films, were controversially awarded during the red carpet event and cut into the live broadcast.

The show featured some great musical performances, predominantly awkward host and presenter banter, and anniversary celebrations of some iconic films from Hollywood’s past. Beyoncé‘s opening performance of “Be Alive,” filmed from a tennis court in Compton, was a standout with incredible choreography and set design. They also did a rendition of “We Need To Talk About Bruno” from Best Animated Feature film winner Encanto despite the song not even being nominated, and Megan Thee Stallion even gave a surprise appearance during the energetic performance. The ceremony was really at its best when emotional winners got to deliver some amazing acceptance speeches.

A highlight of the many great speeches was Troy Kotsur from CODA, who played Frank Rossi, the main character’s deaf father. He is the second deaf actor to win an Academy Award and delivered a moving speech, saying, “It’s really amazing that our film CODA has reached out worldwide.” He first thanked, “all of the wonderful deaf theater stages where I was allowed and given the opportunity to develop my craft as an actor.”

He also emotionally reflected on his father, who was, “the best signer in our family, but he was in a car accident. And he became paralyzed from the neck down, and he was no longer able to sign,” Kotsur said, his ASL translator choking up. “Dad, I learned so much from you, I’ll always love you. You are my hero.”

There were a lot of first-time winners last night, some being actors that have recently come into our knowledge and others that have been nominated in the past and finally got trophies of their own. Jessica Chastain and Will Smith both won their Oscars after two previous acting nominations for other movies. Other first-time winners included Questlove for his documentary Summer of Soul and brother/sister music team Billie Eilish and Finneas for the song “No Time To Die.”

West Side Story breakout Ariana DeBose won her first Oscar as well for Supporting Actress, making her the first out queer woman of color to win the honor. She delivered a short and sweet speech calling the time filming West Side Story “the summer of a lifetime.” She also shouted out Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the original film adaptation, saying, “I’m so grateful your Anita paved the way for tons of Anita’s like me.”

The film Dune won six awards which were for Sound, Editing, Original Score, Cinematography, Production Design and Visual Effects. Most of Dune’s wins had an odd feel to them because they were filmed before the main show with fewer people in the theater, throwing the biggest winner of the night’s momentum just slightly.

It was also discouraging that Oscar-winning shorts didn’t get to accept their awards in front of the full audience in the main ceremony, as the shorts program is an excellent avenue for less established filmmakers to get attention on their work.

When the CODA crew took the stage to accept the Best Picture, the audience applauded in sign language in a great show of support for the deaf community. The film’s producers reflected that making film “hasn’t been an easy ride,” and shared a story of a storm delay on their first day being “only the beginning of our problems.” They also thanked the Academy for “recognizing a movie of love and family in this difficult time.”

The full list of winners is available below:

Best Picture
CODA

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best Actor
Will Smith, King Richard

Best Supporting Actress
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story

Best Supporting Actor
Troy Kotsur, CODA

Best Director
Jane Campion, The Power Of The Dog

Best Adapted Screenplay
Siân Héder, CODA

Best Original Screenplay
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast

Best International Film
Drive My Car (Japan)

Best Visual Effects
Dune

Best Cinematography
Dune