KSC students were given the chance to dress up and walk down their very own red carpet for the KSC Film Society’s Oscars watch party.
The event took place on Sunday, March 2, at the Putnam Theater on campus. The doors opened at 6 p.m., an hour before the awards ceremony started airing live on television and streaming services. The Putnam lobby and theater were decorated with balloons and stars, and a table of snacks and sodas was provided for all in attendance.
Junior Tyler Desjardins, vice president of KSC Film Society, discussed why he enjoys watching the awards show with other students who love movies.
“When something stupid happens, we all yell at the screen,” said Desjardins. “We all react and I think that’s more fun than being alone doing it.”
Even before the show began, it seemed there were crowd favorites and least favorites.
“I would like ‘Anora’ to win,” said Desjardins.
Others in attendance agreed with Desjardins’s wishes.
“Personally, I think Anora is going to be a big runner for … all the stuff that it’s nominated for,” said first-year Patrick Keen. “Great movie, best one on the list if you ask me.”
These students were in luck. “Anora,” a Cinderella style story about a New York City sex worker marrying and running away with a rich Russian man, won five of its six nominations, including “Best Picture”. The Putnam Theater screened “Anora” as its first film of the spring semester.
While Anora got claps and cheers from students, ‘Emelia Pérez’ got boos.
“I hope ‘Emelia Pérez’ loses every single [nomination],” said first-year Chelon Le.
“I’m glad that [Anora] won [Best Picture] and not ‘Emelia Pérez’,” said transfer student Ash Darrow. “I haven’t seen that movie, I kind of joined the hate train … I might check it out, out of morbid curiosity.”
‘Emelia Pérez’, a film about a transgender former Mexican cartel boss’s drive to help families affected by cartel violence, has garnered a fair amount of online controversy. Some have criticized both its representation of transgender women and its portrayal of cartel violence. It won two of the 13 Oscars it was nominated for, Best Original Song and Best Supporting Actress.
The film society also provided Oscars ballots. These forms, printed from film reviewing site Letterboxd, let students cast their own votes for which movie or person they thought would win in each category. The students who guessed the most correct winners would win a prize.
The prizes available to win were: A DVD of “Joker: Folie à Deux” for third place, two DVDs of “No Country for Old Men” and “Anatomy of a Fall” for second place, and a mystery box filled with various different DVDs for first place.
The winners were Keen, senior Ben O’Connor and Zach Johnson.
Many in attendance expressed their enjoyment for watching the awards with their fellow students.
“It was definitely interesting watching it with a group, cheering and booing along with it,” said Darrow. “Definitely would watch the Oscars with a crowd again.”
“Normally I’m not really interested in watching the Oscars … but this year I thought, with a group of people it would be a lot more fun,” said Keen. “We can laugh, cry, yell out in rage … at some of the dumb stuff that happens there.”
Orion Corbin can be contacted at
