Polish cinematographer nominated for Oscar

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday announced the list of nominations for the 93rd Oscar Awards. In the most important category - best film - eight movies were nominated: "Mank," "The Father, "Judas and the Black Messiah," "Minari, "Nomadland", "Promising Young Woman," "Sound of Metal," and "The Trial of the Chicago 7."

Netflix's 1930s Hollywood drama "Mank" led Oscar nominations with 10 nods, including best picture, director and for actors Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried.

In the best director category, for the first time two women were nominated. Chloe Zhao, who was born in China, nabbed one of the nods for "Nomadland," the Searchlight Pictures release about modern van dwellers in the United States. British director Emerald Fennell was also nominated for "Promising Young Woman."

Only one woman, Kathryn Bigelow, has ever won a best director Oscar. A record 76 nominations went to women, the academy said.

Netflix led all studios with 35 nods after a year in which the coronavirus pandemic saw movie studios delay scores of new releases or send them to streaming platforms.

Among the nominees for one of the most esteemed movie awards in the world is Polish cinematographer Dariusz Wolski for his work in "News of the World" by Paul Greengrass.

Wolski was born in 1956 in Warsaw, he graduated from Łódź Film School and has been living in the United States since the 1970s. He has worked in more than 70 movies so far. Most notable titles include the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street", "Alien: Covenant" and "Crimson Tide".

Also on the list are Sean Bobbit ("Judas and the Black Messiah"), Erik Messerschmidt ("Mank"), Joshua James Richards ("Nomadland") and Phedon Papamichael ("The Trial of the Chicago 7").

The Oscars, the highest honors in the movie industry, will be handed out at a ceremony on April 25 that will take place at both the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, and, for the first time, at Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday. The form of the ceremony has not yet been announced.

Lead actors picking up nominations included a first Oscar nod for the late Chadwick Boseman for his last film, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," previous winners Frances McDormand and Viola Davis and Britons Carey Mulligan, Vanessa Kirby, Riz Ahmed and Anthony Hopkins.

South Korean actress Yuh-Jung Youn, who plays a supporting role as a cantankerous grandmother in "Minari," became the first Korean actress to get an Oscar nod. Fellow cast member Steven Yeun and director Lee Isaac Chung also got nods for the moving story of an immigrant Korean family trying to make a living in the United States in the 1980s.

One notable omission from the top Oscar races was director Spike Lee's Vietnam war drama "Da 5 Bloods."

The nominations, however, were diverse, with several going to stories featuring non-white actors or about Black culture, including "One Night in Miami" which got three nods, and "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."