96th Oscars® Nominations: Surprises, Snubs, and Outstanding Performances Revealed

There is no surprise that “The Color Purple” was a shutout. While Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film earned 11 Oscar notations, the new “Color Purple” (which is a musical) only earned one for best supporting actress (Danielle Brooks) which means that Fantasia was not nominated.

To many insiders, Colman Domingo’s nomination for “Rustin” was understood. His performance is sublime and one of the best of his career, which is saying something because he’s a stunning thespian. In “Rustin,” he plays gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin who helped organize the March on Washington, the landmark 1963 demonstration where the large Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

In a happy surprise, actor Sterling K. Brown was nominated (supporting actor) for his role in “American Fiction” along with Jeffrey Wright.

America Ferrera earned a nod for her powerful monologue in “Barbie” in which she said, “I’m just so tired of watching myself, and every single other woman, tie herself into knots so that people will like us,” which was shared around the world via social media.

Every year there are snubs, and this year is no exception. The film “Barbie,” which earned $1.4 billion in box office, but the director, Greta Gerwig, the film’s director, was not recognized with a nomination.

Kris Bowers was nominated for a second time for an Oscar as a producer of the documentary short “The Last Repair Shop.”  The Los Angeles Times-produced short co-directed by composer Kris Bowers and 2022 Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot, the L.A. Times Studios and Searchlight Pictures co-production. The doc focuses on a quartet of master craftspeople who repair damaged musical instruments, bringing them back to life for students in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Proudfoot won an Oscar for “The Queen of Basketball,” a short doc that focused on Olympian Lusia “Lucy” Harris, the first woman to be drafted by the NBA. He was nominated alongside Bowers for their 2020 short doc, “A Concerto Is a Conversation.”

Another stand out under the best documentary feature is “To Kill A Tiger” which is about 

Ranjit, a farmer in Jharkhand, India, who takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the survivor of sexual assault. In India, where a rape is reported every 20 minutes and conviction rates are less than 30 percent, Ranjit’s decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.

The nomination is the latest honour for To Kill a Tiger, which to date has received over 20 Canadian and international awards.

For a complete list of nominees, visit the official Oscars website, www.oscar.com.