Awards ceremonies will come and go, but we’ll always remember the utter spectacle of 2017’s Oscars screw-up, when La La Land was mistakenly awarded Best Picture instead of the actual winner, Moonlight. To revisit:
throwback to last years oscars when moonlight actually won best picture instead of la la land #Oscars pic.twitter.com/lvWD0N0ni6
— chanel (@starkdanys) March 5, 2018
Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a celebration of artistic merit has been overshadowed by a meme-able moment. It’s a feeling which stings all the more considering the symbolic potency of the win, where the Academy Awards chose to award a film about the pains of queer men of colour over a (great but very Oscars-safe) ode to Hollywood romanticism.
In the kerfuffle, Moonlight direct Barry Jenkins didn’t give his proper acceptance speech. He’s also said the whole moment kind of sucked the joy away from the merit of his first Best Picture award.
Thankfully, Barry had a chance to read out his acceptance speech this week at a SXSW panel in Austin, Texas.
It’s as moving as we’d expect – we only wish we’d heard it on the night.You can watch it below, but the video cuts off a bit of the speech, so the full transcription’s below (thanks Deadline):
Tarell and I are Chiron. We are that boy. And when you watch Moonlight, you don’t assume a boy who grew up how and where we did would grow up and make a piece of art that wins an Academy Award — certainly don’t think he would grow up to win Best Picture. I’ve said that a lot and what I’ve had to admit is that I placed those limitations on myself. I denied myself that dream — not you, not anyone else — me. And so, to anyone watching this who sees themselves in us, let this be a symbol, a reflection that leads you to love yourself. Because doing so may be the difference between dreaming at all and somehow, through the Academy’s grace, realising dreams you never allowed yourself to have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZszfR-W7eeU
Source: Deadline
Image credit: Moonlight
