LOS ANGELES: The darkly comic thriller One Battle After Another won best picture at the Academy Awards, leading a haul of six trophies on a Sunday night when Hollywood handed its top movie honors to unconventional stories.

The offbeat tale of political resistance traded wins with the vampire story Sinners, setting up a fight to the end at the Dolby Theatre.

Sinners had entered the ceremony with 16 nominations, more than any other film in the nearly 100-year-old history of the Oscars.

The movie finished with four awards including a best actor trophy for Michael B. Jordan, while Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman and first Black cinematographer to win the cinematography honour.

Irish actor Jessie Buckley landed the best actress accolade for playing William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes Hathaway, in Hamnet.

KPop Demon Hunters, a Netflix movie that became a global phenomenon, was named best animated feature. Its catchy song, Golden, won the award for best original song.

Sentimental Value, directed by Joachim Trier, won for best international feature film on Sunday, beating out The Voice of Hind Rajab.

Amid the celebration, the Oscars took on a serious tone to honor two major losses in the film world – the deaths of directors Robert Redford and Rob Reiner.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2026