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Humboldt County won Best Picture!

Or at least that’s how the audience at the Eureka Theater last night clearly felt about the big Oscar win for “One Battle After Another.”

Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterful action-comedy-thriller, big portions of which were filmed right here in Humboldt County, racked up dozens upon dozens of awards over the past few months, but this was the big one. 

In addition to Best Picture, Anderson took home Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (his first Oscars after receiving 11 prior nominations); Sean Penn won Best Supporting Actor (though he was not in attendance); Andy Jugensen won for Best Editing; and Cassandra Kulukundis won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Casting.

Here in Eureka, another Cassandra — Humboldt-Del Norte County Film Commissioner Cassandra Hesseltine — basked in the glow of victory alongside many of the other local folks who were involved with the production. The Red Carpet Gala at the Eureka Theater has become an annual tradition, but never before has Humboldt had this much skin in the game.

It wasn’t quite a clean sweep for “OBAA.” Leonardo DiCaprio lost the Best Actor race to Michael B. Jordan, who won for his twin roles in director Ryan Coogler’s blues-infused vampire film “Sinners,” while Benicio del Toro and Teyana Taylor lost their supporting actor/actress bids to Penn and Amy Madigan (“Weapons”), respectively.

But it was all about that Best Picture award, and the film’s crowning achievement appeared to inspire as much joy in Eureka as it did in Hollywood. 

Relive highlights from the production’s 11-day stint here in Humboldt via the links you’ll find below this gif of Leonardo DiCaprio running through Arcata.

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