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Alas, awards season is coming to an end. After months of celebrating the best films of 2015, Hollywood is readying itself for the biggest awards ceremony of them all, the Oscars .
This year’s contest has been mired with controversy, the lack of diversity among nominees being discussed countless times by actors and members of the Academy.
Come Sunday night (early Monday morning for us Brits) however, talk of diversity will likely be put on the backburner as the stars adorn the red carpet, eagerly awaiting the results.
Here’s everything you need to know about the ceremony itself, from where is it and what time to who is nominated and where to watch.
This year's Oscars take place on Sunday 28 February at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles (Getty Images) Where will the Oscars take place?
The Oscars take place at the Dolby Theatre - formerly the Kodak theatre - in Los Angeles. The ceremony has taken place there since 2002.
When do things kick off and how long are the awards?
Celebrities will be hitting the red carpet on Sunday 28 February at 4pm (Midnight GMT), with the ceremony scheduled to start at 5.30pm (1.30am GMT). On average, the ceremony lasts around three and a half hours, however, in 2002, they ran on for four hours 23 minutes.
How can I watch the Oscars in the UK?
Sky has set up a special, Oscar-dedicated channel for the occasion called Sky Movies Oscar. It goes live on 22 February and will run until 6 March. You can stream the channel through Now TV with a Sky Movies Month Pass, which can be accessed through almost anything, from a laptop to Playstation 4.
Who is nominated?
Leonardo DiCaprio. Oh, and all these people our film team thinks should win.
Who is hosting and presenting?
Chris Rock is hosting the awards and has apparently re-written his opening monologue to mention the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Guests presenting awards include Emily Blunt, Steve Carell, JJ Abrams, Tina Fey and Henry Cavil. Meanwhile, Dave Grohl has been booked in for a ‘special performance’.
Who is boycotting the awards?
Show all 19 1 /19#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Jada Pinkett-Smith “Today is Martin Luther King’s birthday, and I can’t help but ask the question: Is it time that people of color recognize how much power and influence we have amassed that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere? I ask the question: Have we come to a new time and place where we recognize that we can no longer beg for the love, acknowledge, or respect of any group?” - Posted on her Facebook page.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Will Smith "The beauty of Hollywood combined with American ideals is the ultimate dream for humanity: the basis of the American concept of anything is possible, with hard work and dedication, no matter your race or religion, creed, none of that matters in America. I think that diversity is the American superpower. That's why we are great. So many different people from so many different places adding their ideas and their inspiration and their influences to this beautiful American gumbo and for me, at its best, Hollywood represents and then creates the imagery for that beauty. But for my part, I think I have to fight for and protect the ideals that make our country and make our Hollywood community great. So when I look at the series of nominations of the Academy, it's not reflecting that beauty." - Quote from ABC News appearance.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Reese Witherspoon "I really appreciated this article in TIME on the lack of racial and gender diversity in this year's Oscar nominations. So disappointed that some of 2015's best films, filmmakers and performances were not recognized... Nothing can diminish the quality of their work, but these filmmakers deserve recognition. As an Academy member, I would love to see a more diverse voting membership." - Posted on her Facebook page.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Spike Lee "This whole Academy thing is a misdirection play. We're chasing a guy down the field, he doesn't even have the ball. The other guy's high-stepping in the end zone. It goes further than the Academy Awards. It has to go back to the gatekeepers. We're not in the room. The executives, when they have these greenlight meetings quarterly, they look at the scripts and see who's in it and decide what we're making and what we're not making." - Quote from ABC appearance.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say George Clooney "If you think back 10 years ago, the Academy was doing a better job. Think about how many more African Americans were nominated. I would also make the argument, I don’t think it’s a problem of who you’re picking as much as it is: How many options are available to minorities in film, particularly in quality films? There should be 20 or 30 or 40 films of the quality that people would consider for the Oscars. By the way, we’re talking about African Americans. For Hispanics, it’s even worse. We need to get better at this. We used to be better at it." - Interview with Variety.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Snoop Dogg “Somebody was actually like am I gonna watch the motherf***ing Oscars. F*** no. What the f*** am I going to watch that bulls*** for? They ain’t got no n***** nominated. All these great movies and all this great s*** ya’ll keep stealing from us. F*** you! F*** you!” - Posted on his Instagram page.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Don Cheadle "Yo, Chris. Come check me out at #TheOscars this year. They got me parking cars on G level." - Posted on his Twitter page, directed at host Chris Rock.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Mark Ruffalo “I woke up in the morning thinking, ‘what is the right way to do this?’ Because if you look at Martin Luther King’s legacy, what he was saying was that the good people who don’t act are much worse than the wrongdoers who are purposefully not acting and don’t know the right way.” - Quote from interview with BBC News.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Lupita Nyong'o "I am disappointed by the lack of inclusion in this year's Academy Awards nominations. It has me thinking about unconscious prejudice and what merits prestige in our culture. The awards should not dictate the terms of art in our modern society, but rather be a diverse reflection of the best of what our art has to offer today. I stand with my peers who are calling for change in expanding the stories that are told and recognition of the people who tell them." - Posted on her Instagram page.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Tyrese Gibson "This is not us saying we're against the Oscars because we're gonna combat racism. We're just saying, 'Yo, this is not cool.' You can't be doing this in 2016 and act as if no one is gonna notice." - Quote from interview with People.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say David Oyelowo “The reason why the Oscars are so important is because it is the zenith, it is the epitome, it is the height of celebration of artistic endeavor within the filmmaking community. We grow up aspiring, dreaming, longing to be accepted into that august establishment because it is the height of excellence. I would like to walk away and say it doesn’t matter, but it does, because that acknowledgement changes the trajectory of your life, your career, and the culture of the world we live in. This institution doesn’t reflect its president and it doesn’t reflect this room. I am an Academy member and it doesn’t reflect me, and it doesn’t reflect this nation." - Speech at gala honoring Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Brie Larson "Thank you @hollywoodreporter for covering this very unique moment in my life! It was wonderful spending time with all of you. Personally, I'm interested in reading their article on #OscarsSoWhite. This is a conversation that deserves attention." - Posted on her Instagram page.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say “How many black films are being produced every year? How are they being distributed? The films that are being made, are the big-time producers thinking outside of the box in terms of how to cast the role? Can you cast a black woman in that role? Can you cast a black man in that role? You can change the Academy, but if there are no black films being produced, what is there to vote for?” - Quote from interview with Entertainment Weekly.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Charlotte Rampling "It is racist to whites. One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list. Why classify people? These days everyone is more or less accepted... People will always say: ‘Him, he’s less handsome’; ‘Him, he’s too black’; ‘He is too white’... someone will always be saying ‘You are too’ [this or that]... But do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere?" - Quote from interview on Europe 1.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Michael Caine “There’s loads of black actors. In the end you can't vote for an actor because he's black. You can't say 'I'm going to vote for him, he's not very good, but he's black, I'll vote for him'. You have to give a good performance and I'm sure people have. I saw Idris Elba (in Beasts Of No Nation).I thought he was wonderful. Be patient. Of course it will come. It took years to get an Oscar, years.” - Quote from interview with Radio 4 Today programme.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Steve McQueen "This is exactly like MTV was in the 1980s. Could you imagine now if MTV only showed music videos by a majority of white people, then after 11 o’clock it showed a majority of black people? Could you imagine that happening now? It’s the same situation happening in the movies. Hopefully, when people look back at this in 20 years, it’ll be like seeing that David Bowie clip in 1983 [of artist critiquing channel for not featuring black artists]. I don’t even want to wait 20 years. Forgive me; I’m hoping in 12 months or so we can look back and say this was a watershed moment, and thank God we put that right." Quote from interview with The Guardian.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Julie Delpy "Two years ago, I said something about the Academy being very white male, which is the reality, and I was slashed to pieces by the media. It's funny - women can't talk. I sometimes wish I were African American because people don't bash them afterwards. It's the hardest to be a woman. Feminism is something people hate above all. Nothing worse than being a woman in this business. I really believe that." Delpy has since clarified these remarks, saying, "I'm very sorry for how I expressed myself. It was never meant to diminish the injustice done to African American artists or to any other people that struggle for equal opportunities and rights; on the contrary. All I was trying to do is to address the issues of inequality of opportunity in the industry for women as well (as I am a woman)."
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Clint Eastwood "I don't know anything about it. All I know is there's thousands of people in the Academy, and the majority of them haven't won Oscars. A lot of people are crying, I guess." - Quoted by TMZ.
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#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Ellen Page “It’s awful, and I think what just happened in regards to the nominations two years in a row is a reflection of the industry itself, and the lack of diversity in all positions. It’s so upsetting that we’re still having this conversation. I don’t know what to say other than it’s so disheartening, and I feel like we all have to be doing what we can to make a change, because we’re supposed to be telling stories that reflect human experience, and we can’t just be showing one group of people." Quote from interview with The Wrap.
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Spike Lee, Will Smith and Jada Pinket Smith have all said they will be boycotting the event because of the lack of diversity among nominees in the acting categories. Several others have also spoken out against the Academy, with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite trending when the nominees were announced.
Anything else I need to know?
In case you were wondering, the Oscars gift bag the actors are given contains over $200,000 worth of goodies , including a trip to Israel, sex toy and a Vampire breast lift.
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