THE world’s most prestigious film awards are about to light up Hollywood, and Zimbabwean movie fans won’t miss a moment.
The 98th Academy Awards, celebrating the best in filmmaking for 2025, will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, with the ceremony kicking off at 1am Zimbabwean time on Monday, March 16.
Local viewers can catch the live broadcast on DStv’s M-Net channel 102, according to a press release from the MultiChoice Zimbabwe.
“The Oscars, as they have been known affectionately since first being presented in the late 1920s, are considered the most senior awards in film and the ceremony itself is one of the most popular awards events, watched by over a billion people across the world each year,” the release said.
This year, 10 films are competing for the coveted Best Picture award. These include Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Sinners, and Train Dreams.
The frontrunner is One Battle After Another, an American action comedy-drama directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The film has dominated several awards this season, including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
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Meanwhile, the most-nominated film is Sinners, a fantasy horror set in the 1930s American Deep South, which leads with 16 nominations.
Other notable contenders include foreign-language films Sentimental Value (Norwegian) and The Secret Agent (Brazilian).
In the acting categories, Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme) is tipped to win Best Actor, though Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) could cause an upset.
For Best Actress, favourites include Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) and Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You), with Buckley leading the pack.
The 2025 ceremony introduces a new category: Best Casting, awarded to the film with the strongest overall cast, with Sinners expected to clinch the prize.
The Oscars are known for their secrecy and tradition.
“In the awards process, films are shortlisted into categories, followed by voting by Academy members and a final list of five or more nominees in each category,” the press release explained.
“This is followed by final voting leading to a winner in each category, with secrecy surrounding the identity of winners, known only by an accounting firm in charge of the voting until on-stage announcement live at the ceremony.”
Historical ties have happened too, including in 1968 when Katharine Hepburn (The Lion In Winter) and Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl) shared the Best Actress award.
Zimbabwean audiences have three opportunities to catch this year’s Oscars:
Live broadcast: Monday, March 16 at 1am on M-Net channel 102
Repeat screening: Monday, March 16 at 7pm on MM1, DStv channel 104
Third screening: Saturday, March 21 at 8pm on M-Net channel 102
Whether you are rooting for the action-packed thrills of One Battle After Another or the haunting allure of Sinners, Zimbabwean viewers are set for a cinematic spectacle that brings Hollywood straight to their screens. — Staff Writer.