Despite 10 nominations, Killers of the Flower Moon claimed no Oscars on Sunday evening.
The movie tells the story of the Osage Reign of Terror during the 1920s. It was filmed in Osage County and has been generating award buzz since its Cannes debut last summer. It’s shone an international spotlight on the Osage Nation.
The nominations for the film alone broke several barriers.
One of the nominees that took center stage during the Oscars broadcast was the performance of “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” by Osage citizen Scott George and performed by Osage tribal singers. George was the first Native American person to be nominated for Best Song.
George said in a profile by the Citizen Potowatomi Nation — his day job is in the tribal nation’s housing department — that his nomination as the first Native American was an important achievement.
“There’s no orchestra. There are no string instruments or anything involved in this. It’s just our voices and the drums. For somebody to sit there and think we’re worthy of even being considered, that’s pretty cool,” George said in his interview with CPN.
Lily Gladstone portrayed Mollie Burkhart in the film, and was the first Native American to be nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role in nearly a century of Academy Awards.
“You are the soul of Killers of the Flower Moon,” actress Jennifer Lawrence said when she introduced Gladstone as an Oscar nominee.
Gladstone had already taken home the top actress prizes at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards. But she lost out to Emma Stone, who won her second Oscar for her performance in Poor Things.
Ultimately, it was Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer that stole the show, winning a half dozen Oscars.
