Iñárritu Makes History at the Oscars

Mexican director Alejandro González Iñarritu’s Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) was awarded the Oscar for Best Picture this evening, becoming the first production directed by a Latino filmmaker to win the top honors in the history of the Academy Awards.

González Iñárritu, 51, received the award as a producer of the film, and dedicated the award to his fellow Mexicans. "I pray that we can find and build a government that we deserve, and the ones that live in this country, who are a part of the latest generation of immigrants in this country, I just pray that they can be treated with the same dignity and respect as the ones who came before and built this incredible immigrant nation," he said. "I am very, very thankful, grateful, humbly honored by the Academy for this incredible recognition," Iñárritu added. "This is crazy."

The Mexican filmmaker was also awarded the Oscars for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, along with Argentinean screenwriters Armando Bo and Nicolás Giacobone. With the three Oscars he won this evening, he automatically become the Mexican national to have won the most Oscars.

González Iñarritu’s feat comes exactly one year later after Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón won the Academy Award for Best Director, making it the second year in a row a Mexican national wins the Oscar in the same category.

Mexican DP Emmanuel Lubezki won the Oscar for Best Cinematography for his work in Birdman. It was the second Oscar win for Lubezki in a row, as last year he won the Academy Award in the same category for his work in Cuarón’s Gravity. Lubezki became the fourth Mexican to win two Oscars after Cuarón, actor Anthony Quinn, and art director Emile Kuri.

The 87th Annual Academy Awards were presented at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.