Guillermo del Toro's The Shape Of Water took home the evening's biggest prize, best picture. The film follows a mute cleaning woman who falls in love with an amphibian creature in a Cold War-era government lab. The Shape of Water also won Academy Awards for directing (Guillermo Del Toro), music (Alexandre Desplat) and production design.
The work of the late Chicago photographer Vivian Maier is featured in an Oscar-nominated documentary, but a legal battle over her inheritance could hold up new releases of her work for years to come.
On Sunday, the red carpet will be rolled out for the Academy Awards and Illinois will have a significant presence. We’ll explore those connections beginning with Helen Estabrook, Champaign-Urbana native and the producer of Whiplash could take home as many as five Academy Awards. Finding Vivian Maier is a Chicago story written and directed by a Chicagoan. It could win best documentary….and find itself in copyright trouble. We’ll cover all that and more but first in this WILL special: Illinois at the Oscars
