One nominee is a record breaker…
The nominees for the upcoming Oscars are out, and Ireland has had a bumper year.
The list was announced via a press conference on Tuesday (8 February).
Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast received seven different nominations, in contrast to The Power of the Dog, which leads the overall nominations with 12 individual nods.
There were some notable Irish exceptions/snubs, including Jamie Dornan and Catríona Balfe.
They had also been nominated for their performances at the Golden Globes, where they lost out to Kodi Smit-McPhee and Ariana DeBose.
However, the film did win Best Screenplay at the awards ceremony, and it’s nominated in the same category at this year’s Academy Awards.
With these nominations, Kenneth Branagh has set a new record in Oscar history, being nominated in seven different categories throughout his career.
Ciarán Hinds has been nominated for his performance in the film, and Van Morrison has picked up a nod for Best Original Song, his first ever.
Kerry’s own Jessie Buckley has been nominated for the first time as well, for her performance in The Lost Daughter, starring alongside Olivia Colman.
Ruth Negga was a surprising omission, with many pundits expecting her performance in Passing to receive a nod.
The last Irish person to win an Oscar was Benjamin Cleary, for his short film Stutterer, first shown at the Galway Film Fleadh.
Branagh isn’t the only creative to break records this year, however.
With his nomination for The Tragedy of Macbeth, Denzel Washington is officially the most nominated Black actor of all time, amassing a whopping 10 times, and winning twice.
(We’re pretty big fans of the 67-year-old, in case you haven’t noticed.)
The Academy Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, 27 March, so you have plenty of time to check out the films before then and formulate your hot takes on who should / shouldn’t have been nominated.
The full list of nominations for this year’s Oscars can be found on the Academy’s website.
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