When the nominations were announced earlier this year, they made history – so it's little surprise that history was also made at the 93rd Academy Awards.
For the first time ever, more than one female filmmaker was nominated for Best Director at the Hollywood ceremony.
At the star-studded affair, held on Sunday night, Chloe Zhao was announced as the winner of the prestigious category, becoming only the second woman to win the award, after Kathryn Bigelow's 2010 victory for The Hurt Locker.
In the process, Chinese-born Zhao also became the first woman of colour to take home the honour.
The filmmaker was awarded the golden statuette for Nomadland, a recession-era portrait of itinerant people in the American West.
Starring Frances McDormand, the drama has swept this year's awards season, picking up Best Picture at the Golden Globes and Best Film at the Baftas.
Zhao was nominated alongside Promising Young Woman's Emerald Fennell – who won Best Original Screenplay on the night – and One Night in Miami's Regina King for Best Director.
Accepting the award at the Union Station ceremony, Zhao paid tribute to a poem she learnt thanks to her father.
"When I was growing up in China, my dad and I would play this game. We would memorise classic poems and text and try to finish each other's sentences,” the director said, revealing one translated as: “People at birth are inherently good.”
“I have always found goodness in the people I met,” she continued, adding that “this [award] is for anyone who has the faith and courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves".
Zhao, who is helming upcoming Marvel film The Eternals starring Angelina Jolie, also acknowledged the significance her win may have on minority groups.
"If this means more people like me get to live their dreams, then I feel very grateful," she added.
Follow The National’s live coverage of the 93rd Oscars here.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Brief scoreline:
Wolves 3
Neves 28', Doherty 37', Jota 45' 2
Arsenal 1
Papastathopoulos 80'
How Sputnik V works
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
