Nicholas Souza, News/Online Editor

The Olympics of film is being hosted this Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles – the Oscars.

This year’s Oscars have been mired in controversy after nominations revealed that not a single person of color was nominated in major categories. This led to a backlash from many filmmakers such as Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee, vowing that they will be boycotting this year’s ceremony. The hashtag “OscarsSoWhite” also appeared on many social media platforms. This backlash led to a prompt response from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, bringing about a revamping of the voting process and induction of new members.

“The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up,” Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in a statement. “These new measures regarding governance and voting will have an immediate impact and begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition.”

The ceremony is here, and many are now trying to predict who will win on the big night. After paying close attention to this year’s award season, a few members of The Tangerine staff have a strong idea of who will win this Sunday.

Some of the key indicators of who will win on the big night are the guild awards such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Producer Guild Awards, and the Directors Guild Awards. Also, the BAFTAs are a great indicator of how British academy members will vote, while the Golden Globes are not due to there being zero overlap between the voting bodies.

The biggest category of the night is Best Picture with nominees The Revenant, The Big Short, Spotlight, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, Room, Brooklyn, and Bridge of Spies all vying for the title. The top two contenders for this award are The Revenant and Spotlight with the former being the favorite. The Revenant has picked up key awards along the way such the BAFTA for Best Picture. If The Revenant wins in this category, this will be Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s second consecutive win in this category after winning last year for Birdman.

Spotlight has a good shot at winning Best Picture, however, because the acting body of the Academy showed the film a lot of love at the SAG Awards and has performed well on the critics award circuit. Do not count out The Big Short, because it picked up the most important indicator award when predicting this category, which is Best Theatrical Motion Picture at the Producers Guild Awards. In the last 10 years, eight of the winners who have won this award have gone on to claim the top prize at the Oscars. The Tangerine’s pick for Best Picture goes to The Revenant.

Before nominations were revealed, it appeared that Ridley Scott would finally win in this category for The Martian. After being snubbed, however, there were a lot of questions of who would win, either George Miller or Alejandro G. Iñárritu. It appears that Iñárritu will pull another repeat, winning in this category just like last year. Iñárritu picked up the Directors Guild Award, which is almost a guarantee that he will win in this category.

In the acting categories, Brie Larson and Leonardo DiCaprio are guaranteed to win Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively. They both picked up awards at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and the BAFTAs.

In the supporting acting categories, there is a little bit more room for debate. For Best Supporting Actor, Sylvester Stallone is the favorite to win this based purely on nostalgia. For Best Supporting Actress, Alicia Vikander picked up a lot of awards such as the SAG for her role in The Danish Girl. She appears to be a lock to win this award but Kate Winslet could give her a run for her money for her Oscar-nominated role in Steve Jobs. Winslet has picked up the Golden Globe and the BAFTA, she is extremely respected in the acting community and there seems to be the sense that she deserves another Oscar. The Tangerine’s pick for Supporting Actress goes to Kate Winslet.

Hosted by Chris Rock, the Oscars’ ceremony will air live on ABC this Sunday at 8 p.m.

Featured Image: Photo by AMPAS

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