Ruth E. Carter, an American costume designer, became the first Black woman to win two Oscars at the 95th Academy Awards.
Four years after winning Best Costume Design for Marvel’s “Black Panther,” she won Best Costume Design for its sequel, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” on Sunday.
Carter, as the film’s principal costume designer, was instrumental in making “Black Panther” a worldwide success, with her creations helping to bring the mythical country of Wakanda to life.
“I pulled myself up from my bootstraps. I started in a single parent household. I wanted to be a costume designer. I studied, I scraped, I dealt with adversity in an industry that sometimes didn’t look like me. And I endured,” she said.
“So I feel that this win opens the door for other young costume designers that may not think this industry is for them and hopefully they’ll see me and see my story and they’ll think that they can win an Oscar too.”
But the madcap multiverse adventure, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” dominated this year’s Oscars, winning seven awards including Best Picture.
And it also made history with Malaysian actor, Michelle Yeoh, become the first ever Asian woman to win Best Actress.
“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dreams – dream big – and dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you’re ever past your prime. Never give up,” she said.
The film won Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay in addition to Best Picture and Best Actress.
The film depicts the narrative of a Chinese immigrant who becomes unwittingly entangled in an epic quest in which she must unite multiple versions of herself in parallel universes in order to stop someone who intends to ruin the multiverse.
“I think one of the things that I realised growing up is that one of the best things that we can do for each other is shelter each other from the chaos of this crazy world we live in,” said co-director Daniel Kwan.
The Academy Award for Best Actor went to Brendan Fraser for his comeback role in “The Whale” in which he plays Charlie, an overweight reclusive gay English teacher who tries to restore his relationship with his teenage daughter.
The other film which also won a slew of awards, including best international feature, was the German language World War II epic “All Quiet on the Western Front”, which took four awards.