Iranian filmmaker wins at Academy Awards

Rayka Zehtabchi, an Iranian filmmaker, received the Short Film (Live Action) award for her film, 'Period. End of Sentence.' on Sunday.
Zehtabchi, 25, said in her speech when receiving the prize that she couldn't believe that a film about health problems could win an Oscar.
Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton made the film which follows an enduring stigma around women health problems in rural parts of India and how it affects the lives and education of women.
The 25-minute movie narrates the poor sanitary conditions of women in a village in India. The women living in the village don't have access to sanitation products. Some girls of the village leave school due to the shame of the problems.
To make the movie, Zehtabchi visited India twice in 2017, when she had just graduated from the School of the Arts and Architecture of University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) a year earlier.
About her goal in making the movie, she said that it was necessary that the problems and deprivations of women throughout the world be put on the spotlight.
Overall, 20th Century Fox's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' won four honors while 'Green Book', 'Roma' and 'Black Panther' earned three apiece.
In the top categories, 'Roma' helmer Alfonso Cuaron claimed the directing Oscar for the second time in his career. He received the honor five years after winning it for 'Gravity' in 2014. Cuaron also took home the cinematography prize, making him the first person to nab the award for serving as DP on his own film. He accepted a statue for foreign-language film on behalf of Mexico as well.
Olivia Colman earned the best actress award for 'The Favourite', Rami Malek won the best actor honor for 'Bohemian Rhapsody', Regina King claimed the best supporting actress honor for 'If Beale Street Could Talk', and Mahershala Ali won best supporting actor for 'Green Book'.
'BlackKklansman' director Spike Lee took home his first Oscar at Sunday's Academy Awards, following five nominations over nearly 30 years, while Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie and Peter Farrelly claimed best original screenplay for 'Green Book'.
In craft categories, 'Black Panther' earned the costume design honor and a win for production design while 'Vice' won for makeup and hairstyling. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' won for film editing, sound editing and sound mixing and 'First Man' won for visual effects.
For best original song, Lady Gaga won for 'Shallow' in 'A Star Is Born' while Ludwig Göransson claimed a win for the score of 'Black Panther'.
'Roma' nabbed the best foreign-language film and cinematography honors. 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' won best animated feature, while 'Free Solo' earned the best documentary feature award.

Women, people of color triumph
Oscar marked a night of important firsts — and seconds — for diverse artists and filmmakers and their Hollywood contributions.
The 2019 telecast started making history almost immediately. After Regina King accepted best supporting actress for 'If Beale Street Could Talk', Ruth E. Carter became the first African American woman to ever win best costume design, for her work on Marvel's 'Black Panther'.
"I dreamed of this night and I prayed for this night honestly…what it would mean not just for me but for young people coming behind me," Carter told press backstage at Hollywood's Dolby Theater. A nod to a new generation of costumers could have been expected, as the first person Carter thanked in her acceptance speech was Spike Lee. The director gave her start, she said, and he was himself a multiple nominee on Sunday for 'BlacKkKlansman'.
The production designer of 'Black Panther', Hannah Beachler, took that advice to heart and proceed to win in her category minutes after Carter, the first time a woman of color had even been nominated in that space.
"When you think it's impossible, just remember to say this piece of advice I got from a very wise woman: I did my best, and my best is good enough," Beachler said in an emotional speech that kicked off with a shout out to New Orleans. Both Beachler and Carter's wins are historic in multiple ways: An African-American woman hasn't won a non-acting Oscar in 30 years.
Mahershala Ali took the best supporting actor Oscar for 'Green Book', and now becomes the only other black performer besides Denzel Washington to have won more than one Academy Award.
Despite Disney-Pixar often taking the animated feature category, 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' ended its clean-sweep of awards season against films including 'Incredibles 2'.
Producers Phil Lord (a Cuban-American) and Chris Miller accepted the prize with directors including Peter Ramsey, for mounting the groundbreaking Sony Pictures Animation film that was the first to ever feature a Spider-Man of color (the Afro-Latino Miles Morales).
Female visibility above and below the line was incredibly strong, with Kate Biscoe and Patricia DeHaney's makeup and hairstyling win for 'Vice' and Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton's best documentary short win for 'Period. End of Sentence.'
Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb of Pixar also nabbed an animated short for 'Bao', and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Shannon Dill shared best documentary feature for 'Free Solo' with Jimmy Chin and Evan Hayes.
Hollywood Reporter, Variety, theguardian.com and oscar.go.com contributed to this story.

Iranian filmmaker wins at Academy Awards

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