‘A Fantastic Woman’ Wins Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film
David Ehrlich
“A Fantastic Woman” won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Accepting the award, which was presented by Rita Moreno, director Sebastián Lelio called the Oscar “an amazing gift.” He gave special mention to Daniela Vega, calling her “the inspiration for this movie.”
The story of a young transgender woman who’s forced to contend with her lover’s hostile family after his sudden death, “A Fantastic Woman” is the second Chilean feature ever nominated for Best Foreign Language Film (the other being 2012’s “No”), and the first to win the prize. It was heavily favored to walk away with the Oscar, especially after nabbing the same trophy over a different crop of movies at yesterday’s Indie Spirit Awards.
Earlier in the evening, star Daniela Vega became the first openly transgender person to ever present an award the Oscars. While Vega was often discussed as being a possible Best Actress nominee for her performance in “A Fantastic Woman,” that ultimately didn’t come to fruition.
The other nominees in this category were “The Insult” (Lebanon), “Loveless” (Russia), “On Body and Soul” (Hungary), and “The Square.”
The 90th Academy Awards were held on March 4th at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and were hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
