A Very International Oscars

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  02.23.09 | 2:38 PM ET

Last night’s Oscars ceremony is likely to be up for debate for some time—among the most contentious issues, for me, is the fact that the cast of “High School Musical” got more screen time than most nominees—but one thing is certain: it was the most international Oscars since 2004, when Charlize Theron thanked everyone in South Africa, and the winners from “Lord of the Rings” managed to name-drop just about everyone in New Zealand, too.

In the 2009 edition, there were acceptance speeches smattered with Spanish (Penelope Cruz, for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) and Tamil (A.R. Rahman, the composer for “Slumdog Millionaire”), there were shout-outs to Mumbai (from the assortment of “Slumdog” winners, who took home 8 awards between them), and there were two separate winners from Japan.

My favorite globally-flavored Oscar moments, after the jump:

Kunio Kato, who created the winning entry in the Best Animated Short Film category, put a new twist on the obligatory “final line in my native language” that most every foreign winner opts for:

The medley of Best Song nominees had (thankfully) nothing in common with the rotation of safe Disney musical hits I remember yawning through in my childhood:

And finally, Rezul Pookutty, the winning sound engineer for “Slumdog Millionaire,” thanked India and declared: “This is not just an award, this is history being handed over to me.”

I’m inclined to agree.

You can find the full list of winners here. What were your favorite Oscar moments?


Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


2 Comments for A Very International Oscars

TambourineMan 02.24.09 | 12:34 AM ET

Favorite moment: B. Stiller as J. Phoenix

Least favorite: George Carlin and Patrick McGoohan left out of the “In Memoriam” segment

Ling 02.24.09 | 10:04 AM ET

Have to agree. Stiller’s walkabout was really funny. Watching Natalie Portman expression made it seem even funnier.

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