Women in focus in best picture Academy Awards cliffhanger

The best picture award in Sunday's Academy Awards looks a four-way race with women in the spotlight after an awards season dominated by Hollywood’s sexual misconduct scandal.

“The star of this year’s Oscars is female empowerment. A film with a female perspective has not won best picture since ‘Million Dollar Baby’ in 2005,” said Tom O‘Neil, founder of awards website GoldDerby.com.

Romantic fantasy “The Shape of Water,” Fox Searchlight’s tale of a mute cleaning woman who falls in love with a river creature, goes into the ceremony with a leading 13 nominations, including best picture, director and actress.

But awards pundits say the coveted best picture Oscar is a four-way race with Fox Searchlight dark comedy “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Universal Pictures racial satire “Get Out,” and Warner Bros British World War Two drama “Dunkirk” also in the running.

(REUTERS)