By Carlos Díaz Reyes
It’s a relief that this embarrassing and dreadful movie awards season is finally over. On March 2nd, the 97th Academy Awards ceremony took place, and at last, we can stop talking about Emilia Pérez.
These awards are always controversial, but this year, they tried to shove a shameless cinematic abomination down our throats. I’ve never seen a film so high on my “worst of the year” list receive so much recognition. Emilia Pérez earned 13 Oscar nominations, making it one of the most nominated films in history or something like that. Fortunately, it only won Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song, both completely undeserved. The good news is that the Brazilian film Ainda Estou Aqui (I’m Still Here) beat it for Best International Feature.
Rather than rewarding “quality cinema,” these awards have always followed political and personal interests—this is nothing new. Each film mounts a campaign, and studios dedicate resources to promote their “champion” among Academy voters. That’s how it works. This time, Netflix stepped up its game, and the person responsible for this effort was Lisa Taback, an awards campaign expert who worked for years with the Weinsteins, helping them win with films like The English Patient (1996) and Shakespeare in Love (1998), among others.
But in the end, the big winner was my favorite film of the year: Anora by Sean Baker, perhaps one of the most interesting American directors of recent times. This isn’t very common. Few Palme d’Or winners from have also triumphed at the Oscars, and I don’t think any of my favorite films of the year had won in this way since I started making movie lists.
If this leads to more people watching Anora, that’s great. But I also don’t believe awards affect a film’s quality in the slightest. The work remains the same, whether it wins something or not. We can’t take a capitalist organization—whose last concern is art (especially when it gives 13 nominations to something like Emilia Pérez)—as a reference. I’ve always believed that a work should speak for itself; it doesn’t need explanations or justifications. Awards reflect other things, like market interests or who knows what.
This happens in all fields, including literature and music. Awards are nothing more than marketing campaigns, and although money is sadly essential to create art, that doesn’t make it right. Whenever monetary interests meddle in a book, an album, a play, a film, or even a painting, something is lost. Money should be a means (unfortunately), not the goal. When it becomes the goal, we get things like Emilia Pérez.
In 2024, there were many excellent films that didn’t receive a single Oscar nomination. That doesn’t mean they’re worth less or of lower quality. Here’s my advice: when it comes to appreciating a film (or anything), we should always follow our instincts. It’s us and our personal perception that give value to a work of art. The connection we feel with a story is what makes it valuable. Everything else is dispensable.
The best thing we can do is watch as many films as possible, the good and the bad, to build our own criteria. As for others’ opinions, we should select those with whom we feel affinity. Let’s place our trust in individuals, not organizations. Cinema is a medium to connect with others, to discuss interesting topics, or to have a good time. The awards season is over; let’s return to what truly matters.
