Oscars 2020 all you need to know: Where and when to watch, nominees, peformances

The Academy Awards 2020 are arguably one of the biggest events for the international film community. Here’s a guide to everything there is to know about the awards ceremony. Once again, the Oscars are at taking place at the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles.

The ceremony will come just days after the death of Kirk Douglas , one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s golden age. Kobe Bryant , a 2018 Oscar winner for the short Dear Basketball, is expected to be included in the ceremony’s In Memorium segment, reports The Associated Press.

Representational image. Reuters

When 

The Oscars will take place on Monday, 9 February at 6:30 pm EST (5 am of 10 February in India) with the red carpet show, which will feature exclusive interviews with the nominees, presenters and performers. The ceremony can also be live-streamed by viewers on Twitter, according to the official website .

The pre-Oscars coverage will be led by actor and singer Billy Porter, talk show host Tamron Hall, supermodel Lily Aldridge, and film critic Elvis Mitchell.

Where to watch

For Indian viewers, the awards will be broadcast on Star Movies, Star Movies HD, and Star Movies Select HD. The live stream will be available on Hotstar. 

Nominees

This year the films vying for Best Picture are Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Little Women, Marriage Story, 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and, Parasite. While Joker and Once Upon a Time… were seen as strong contenders for the award, Sam Mendes’ war drama 1917 and Parasite can also be surprise winners, especially after the praise they have garnered in all precursor awards.

After a year in which women made significant gains behind the camera, no female directors were nominated for best director. This category includes Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and Mendes. The chances of either Todd Phillips or Bong Joon-ho also seem promising.

The acting categories are also the least diverse since the fallout of #OscarsSoWhite pushed the academy to remake its membership. The nominess include Joaquin Phoenix (Joker), Adam Driver (Marriage Story), Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time…), Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory) and Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes).

Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) is the only actor of colour nominated in Best Actress alongside Renee Zellweger (Judy), Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story), Saoirse Ronan (Little Women) and Charlize Theron (Bombshell).

Oscars 2020 host

The ceremony will go hostless a second year in a row, repeating a format credited with boosting ratings last year.

In 2019, the awards decided to go without a host — the first time in three decades — after their original choice Kevin Hart pulled out when old homophobic tweets of his resurfaced.

Among the presenters the academy will lean on in the absence of a host are: Tom Hanks, Maya Rudolph, Spike Lee, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris Rock, Timothee Chalamet, Will Ferrell, Diane Keaton and Kelly Marie Tran.

Performers

Erivo will sing ‘Stand Up’ from Harriet’s soundtrack, while four-time Grammy winner and will perform the Oscar nominated track ’(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again’ from Rocketman.

Idina Menzel, last seen in Uncut Gems, alongside Norwegian musician Aurora and voices of Frozen 2’s international voice cast will sing ‘Into the Unknown’. This is Us actress Chrissy Metz will take the stage for a performance of ‘I’m Standing with You’ from Breakthrough.

Composer Randy Newman, who has received a Best Original Score nom for Marriage Story, will perform Toy Story 4’s ‘I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away’. Multiple Grammy winning teen sensation Billie Eilish was also announced as a performer by the Academy recently.

(With inputs from The Associated Press)