Each year, the Drexel Theatre hosts a Red Carpet Bash for the Oscars. The ceremony is streamed in screening room one, which is Drexel’s largest screen.
A free drink of any size, a free box of candy and a free hot dog and side from Dirty Frank’s are included in each guest’s ticket. Free popcorn is also available throughout the whole night.
During commercial breaks, the hosts, Creative Beings’ Hilary Buchanan and The Nest Theatre’s Tara DeFrancisco, asked Oscars-related trivia questions, where guests had the opportunity to win prizes to local places, including a $25 gift card to Newfangled Kitchen and 10 passes to the CAPA Summer Movie Series.
Attendees are encouraged to either dress formally or dress as a character from one of the nominated movies. Around the middle of the event, there is a costume contest. This year’s winner was a woman who was dressed as Elisabeth Sparkle from “The Substance,” the film that ended up winning Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
Attendees also had the chance to fill out an Oscars ballot, and whoever correctly predicted the most awards won free movies for a year at Drexel.
On the topic of predictions, let’s reference my Oscar picks and predictions to see what I got right and what I got wrong.
Best Cinematography:
My prediction was “The Brutalist,” and that was correct.
Best Adapted Screenplay:
My prediction was “A Complete Unknown,” and I was shocked that it didn’t win. My pick was “Sing Sing,” but that unfortunately didn’t win either. “Conclave” ended up taking home the award.
Best Original Screenplay:
My prediction was “The Brutalist,” and luckily that was wrong, too, because my pick was “Anora,” and that’s what ended up winning.
Best Original Score:
My prediction was “Conclave,” but “The Brutalist” won, which I knew had a very good chance of winning.
Best Supporting Actor:
My prediction was Kieran Culkin, and that was correct.
Best Director:
My prediction was Brady Corbet, director of “The Brutalist,” and this was another case where I’m glad that I was wrong because my pick, Sean Baker, ended up winning for his work on “Anora.”
Best Actress:
My pick, prediction and the winner was Mikey Madison, and it was one of the best awards of the night.
Best Actor:
My prediction was Adrien Brody, and that ended up being correct, which meant I had to sit through probably the longest acceptance speech since Will Smith won the same award in 2022.
Best Picture:
In my article, I said that I thought “The Brutalist” would win, but it would be very close between that and “Anora.” I really wanted “Anora” to win, and it did in fact beat out “The Brutalist.”
When “Anora” won best picture, one of the producers, Alex Coco, encouraged people to keep making independent films (like “Anora”) because “we need more.”
Sean Baker, the editor/producer/writer/director closed the acceptance speech by saying, “Long live independent film,” which brought out great applause in both the audience in the Globe Theatre and those of us watching at Drexel, an independent theater that supports independent films.
It was clear that not everyone at Drexel was happy with all of the awards, but Coco and Baker’s closing remarks seemed to unite everyone in a way that made our losses worth it.
