By Samantha Brant ’19, Arts and Entertainment Editor

Every year, millions of people tune in to watch the Academy Awards, nicknamed the Oscars, to recognize excellence in the film industry. This year marks the 89^th ceremony and many great actors, actresses, and movies were nominated. There were many surprising nominees and surprising snubs this year; for example, La La Land has earned a historic number of nominations, which was surprising to many because although it was a good movie, nobody expected it to be this popular.  It received 14 nominations which ties the record for the most nominations ever for a single movie. Some snubs were, sadly, Tom Hanks (Sully) and Martin Scorsese (Silence). One of the most surprising nominations was for Amy Adams, who was the lead actress in Arrival, a movie that received 8 nominations. Deadpool was surprisingly not nominated for anything, although it also would have been shocking if it had been nominated.

Here are the nominations and predictions for the 2017 Academy Awards:

For Best Picture, the nominees are; Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion, Manchester by the Sea, and Moonlight. Moonlight is the predicted winner according to Refinery 29.

For Best Director, the nominees are: Damien Chazelle (La La Land), Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea), Denis Villeneuve (Arrival), and Damien Chazelle is predicted to win the Oscar.

For Best Actor: Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge), Ryan Gosling (La La Land), Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic), Denzel Washington (Fences), and Casey Affleck is the predicted winner.

For Best Actress: Isabelle Huppert (Elle), Ruth Negga (Loving), Natalie Portman (Jackie), Emma Stone (La La Land), Meryl Steep (Florence Foster Jenkins), and Natalie Portman has been predicted to win.

For Best Supporting Actress the predicted winner is Viola Davis for Fences, and the other nominees are Naomi Harris, Nicole Kidman, Octavia Spencer, and Michelle Williams.

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) is predicted to win Best Supporting Actor and Jeff Bridges, Lucas Hedges, Dev Patel, and Michael Shannon are also nominated.

Moana has been predicted to win Best Animated Feature Film, and was nominated alongside Kubo and the Two Strings, My Life as a Zucchini, The Red Turtle, and Zootopia.

Other categories are Best Foreign Language Film, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Screenplay–so make sure you tune in on the 26^th to watch the 89^th Academy Awards!