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Nomadland poster
Best Picture

Oscar Ledger Year Dossier

93rd Dossier

The 2020 file for 93rd Academy Awards: winners first, ballot trails on demand, and the films that shaped the ceremony.

Year 2020
Best Picture Nomadland
Winner Record 25/24
Top Winner Nomadland
All Ceremonies Full Ballot Open Full Ledger

Ceremony Guide

Guide File

93rd Academy Awards — April 25, 2021

April 25, 2021 Ceremony 93 Approved Guide
Full Ballot All Ceremonies

Delayed by the COVID?19 pandemic and staged at Los Angeles’s Union Station, the 93rd Academy Awards had an intimate, socially distanced feel. Chlo’ Zhao’s lyrical road movie *Nomadland* won Best Picture, and Zhao became the second woman and the first woman of color to win Best Director. Frances McDormand won Best Actress for her quietly commanding performance as a houseless woman traversing the American West, while Anthony Hopkins won Best Actor for playing an aging man losing his memory in *The Father*. The Adapted Screenplay award went to Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller for *The Father*, and Emerald Fennell won Original Screenplay for *Promising Young Woman*.

This pared-down ceremony put speeches and craft over spectacle and generated controversy by rearranging the order of categories: Best Actor was saved for last, seemingly anticipating a posthumous win for Chadwick Boseman. When Hopkins’s name was read instead, the broadcast ended abruptly, leaving some viewers stunned. Still, the night belonged to Zhao and McDormand’s film: *Nomadland*’s meditative tone and non-professional actors expanded the Academy’s idea of what an Oscar movie could be.

Annual Thesis

The 2020 ceremony centers on Nomadland.

This dossier opens with the four races readers check first: Picture, Director, Actor, and Actress. 4 of 4 major races have winners recorded, with 23 major-field records feeding into the full 25/24 ceremony ledger below.

4major races 23major-field records 4/4winners recorded 2linked reviews
Full Ballot Winner Circle All Ceremonies Best Picture Best Director Best Actor Best Actress

Ceremony Snapshot

A live, winner-driven snapshot of this ceremony.

Best Picture went to Nomadland. The winning leader is Nomadland with 3 wins.

Nomadland 3 wins | 6 nominations
Mank 2 wins | 10 nominations
Judas and the Black Messiah 2 wins | 6 nominations
Sound of Metal 2 wins | 6 nominations
The Father 2 wins | 6 nominations
Winner Record 25/24

Categories settled and marked as winners in the ledger.

Open Data Explorer

Best Picture Nominees

The shortlist most readers look for first: 8 Best Picture nominees from this ceremony.

120Nominations
25Wins
24Categories
1927/28-2025Ledger span

Major Races

The Four Races That Shape the Night

A fast editorial scan of Picture, Director, Actor, and Actress before the full ceremony ledger opens out below.

Open Full Ballot

Best Picture Winner

Nomadland

Frances McDormand | Peter Spears | Mollye Asher | Dan Janvey | Chloé Zhao

Best Picture anchors a 8-nominee field.

Nominee Field
Category File Full Race Ballot Film History

Complete Ceremony Ledger

Fast view shows every category and winner first, with nominee groups linked to the full ballot when you need the deep ledger.

Open Full Ballot

23 categories 120 records 25 winners Nominees summarized for speed

Category

Best Picture

1 winner / 8 records

7 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

Category

Best Director

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

Category

Best Actress

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

Category

Best Actor

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

Category

COSTUME DESIGN

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

Category

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

Category

FILM EDITING

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

Category

VISUAL EFFECTS

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

Category

Sound

1 winner / 5 records

4 nominees summarized Open Full Category Ballot

Ceremony Highlights

Poster-first highlights from this ceremony, led by winners and the titles that defined the night.

On Lunara

Criticism from the Lunara archive tied to this ceremony's most visible contenders and winners.

Categories in this ceremony

Best Actor Best Supporting Actor Best Actress Best Supporting Actress ANIMATED FEATURE FILM Production Design Best Picture CINEMATOGRAPHY COSTUME DESIGN Best Director DOCUMENTARY (Feature) DOCUMENTARY (Short Subject) FILM EDITING INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM JEAN HERSHOLT HUMANITARIAN AWARD MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING MUSIC (Original Score) MUSIC (Original Song) SHORT FILM (Animated) SHORT FILM (Live Action) Sound VISUAL EFFECTS WRITING (Adapted Screenplay) WRITING (Original Screenplay)

Winner Circle

A category-by-category winner roll call generated directly from the ceremony ledger.

Research Mode

Keep the ceremony page visual first. Open the raw table only when the research asks for it.

Poster view is the default Lunara surface. Data Explorer stays here for sortable rows, filters, and deep record-level digging when you actually need the raw ledger.

Poster View Data Explorer