The Academy Award is undoubtedly one of the most prestigious awards in the world of cinema.
Every year, thousands of professionals of the film industry gather for the awards ceremony, in search of the coveted golden statuette.
In this article, we'll explore the history, origins, and curiosities of this annual award.
Origins of the Academy Award
The Oscar winner was created in 1929 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), a Hollywood-based organization of motion picture professionals. The first awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929 at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, in California.
Initially, the Academy Award was conceived as a way of recognizing cinema's best technical and artistic achievements, but over the years It has evolved to also include categories such as best picture, best director, best actor and actress.
History of the Academy Award
The Academy Award winner has a long history of celebrating the best cinematic work of the year. Over the years, the awards ceremony has become a major event for the motion picture industry, which looks to the Academy Award as a form of recognition and publicity for winning films.
The first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture was "Wings“, a 1927 silent film directed by William A. Wellman, this is because the winners of the first Academy Awards they participated with films shot and released in 1927 and 1928.
While the first film to win the prize for the best artistic production was "Aurora" by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau.
Over the years, many other blockbuster films have received this prestigious award, including Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Parasite.
The Oscar to Sidney Poitier, the first black man to win one
Sidney Poitier was an actor, director and ambassador of the Bahamas.
In 1964, made the history of cinema becoming the first black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in “Lilies of the Field”.
This victory represented a moment of great significance in the fight for civil rights in the United States, as it demonstrated that a black actor could be recognized for his talent and professional ability.
Poitier was also an important symbol for the African American community and paved the way for many other black actors and actresses to win the Academy Award over the years.
His career and his Oscar win proved that talent has no boundaries and that every person, regardless of skin color, has the potential to achieve great things in the world of cinema.
The statuette of the Oscar Awards
The statuette of the Oscar Awards, also called "Academy Award of Merit“, is a golden figure depicting a muscular man holding a sword and standing on a reel of motion picture film.
It was designed in 1928 by the artist Cedric Gibbons, with the help of sculptor George Stanley.
the statuette, just over 34 cm high, is accomplished in bronze alloy and covered in 24 carat gold. Over the years, the statuette has become an Academy Award icon and is regarded as one of the most coveted honors in the motion picture industry.
Curiosity about the Oscar winner
The Academy Award winner is known for his many curiosities, some of which have become legends over the years. For example, the name "Oscar” was chosen by the director of the AMPAS library, Margaret Herrick, who reportedly noted that the golden statuette resembled his uncle Oscar.
Another curiosity concerns the fact that the Oscar winner it has been stolen several times During the years. One of the most famous cases was that of 2000, when the statuette of the best actor it was stolen from the restroom of the restaurant where the Vanity Fair party took place.
