57 Oscar acceptance speeches, from 1940 to 2021 The Academy Award, also better known as the "Oscar" or simply "Oscar", is probably the most prestigious and oldest film award in the world (it was awarded for the first time on May 16, 1929, three years before Venice Film Festival). The book selects and analyzes 57 Oscar acceptance speeches (from the 1940 to the 2021 edition). From that of Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to be awarded in 1940 for Gone with the Wind, to those of Frances McDormand and Chloé Zhao in 2021, passing through Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Roberto Benigni, Ennio Morricone, Leonardo DiCaprio and many other great protagonists of world cinema. Ebook version with color images, expansions and hyperlinks (to the original videos and further details). Gianluca Sposito (1973) is a lawyer and university professor. He is one of the leading Italian experts in rhetoric and communication.