It’s Oscar weekend, babies! 

The 97th Academy Awards, more commonly referred as The Oscars, is taking place again this Sunday 2. March, and rewarding the most outstanding skills or performances in movie making. And this year it is more interesting than ever!

There is one movie which is making history this year. The French production Emilia Pérez leads the Oscars with an amazing number of 13 nominations, now the most nominated non-English speaking film in the history of Oscars. What makes these nominations even more remarkable is the leading actress Karla Sofía Gascón, who is the first openly transgender performer to be honoured in the category of Actress in a leading role. The movie is about a cartel leader in Mexico who wants to change his sex, in order to disappear.

Another movie that honourably gathered 10 nominations in different categories is the American fantasy musical called Wicked. The movie is adapted from a Broadway musical from 1995, based on the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The British actress Cynthia Erivo is competing together with Gascón in the category of a leading role. If she is to win, she will join an exclusive club of EGOT performers, which refers to people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award.

Oscars have been infamous for nominating from none to very few female directors, and this year is no exception, with Coralie Fargeat being the only one. She has been nominated for directing the horror movie The Substance, which features Demi Moore. Moore is nominated in the category Actress in a leading role from the same movie.

European stars

Erivo, from the UK, and Gascón, from Spain, will definitely have all eyes on them this Sunday, but they are not the only stars from Europe that have received this honour.

Hanna Aqvilin, a Swedish journalist and filmmaker has been nominated alongside her colleagues Shiori Ito and Eric Nyari in the category of Documentary feature film with Black Box Diaries.  The documentary tells Ito’s own story about a sexual assault case in Japan and the struggles she faced trying to find justice. It has still not been aired in Japan, which has raised some conversations. Japan Today published an article explaining the legal concerns surrounding the documentary in Japan.

The Danish production The Girl with the Needle has been honoured with an International feature film nomination, and this movie is something fascinatingly different. It is a psychological thriller based on a true story, and what makes the story set in 1919 Copenhagen feel even more horrifying and realistic is that the film is in black and white.

An honorable mention is also the comedic short film Beautiful Men by the Belgian Nicolas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande. In this short animation three brothers travel to Turkey to get hair transplant surgery, and the film humorously presents their troubles they face on the way.

You can find all the nominations and categories here: The 97th Academy Awards | 2025.

Happy Oscar weekend to everyone! May it be filled with new amazing movie experiences.

Text: Lilli Sisko Huovari
Featured image: Engin Akyurt / Pexels