The 97th Academy Awards are upon us. It's been a tempestuous awards race with flame-outs - both meteorological and actual - a string of controversies and a refreshingly wide open field.

Tonight's ceremony is hosted by first-timer Conan O'Brien - and broadcast live on ITV1 in the UK, MC'ed by Jonathan Ross.

Earlier this year, the momentum was behind the controversial musical Emilia Pérez, which was duly awarded with 13 nominations - the most of any foreign language film. But its chances were knocked after vile tweets by its trans star Karla Sofía Gascón were unearthed.

Sean Baker's screwball thriller Anora had a strong showing at the Baftas and other awards. So, too, did Edward Berger's crisp and stylish thriller, Conclave - aka "Mean Girls in the Vatican". Brady Corbet's monumental, state-of-the-nation epic, The Brutalist, built an impressive head of steam over the awards race, with voters enamoured by the scale it achieves with its comparatively paltry $10m budget. Meanwhile, Timothée Chalamet's performance in the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown has also generated a lot of love.

What of the other pictures? Wicked - which alongside The Brutalist - got 10 nominations back in January. At last year's ceremony, Oppenheimer married critical and commercial success. Can the green-skinned juggernaut do the same?

Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez

Joslyn Barnes and RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys

Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, Sing Sing

Jay Cocks and James Mangold, A Complete Unknown

Peter Straughan, Conclave