Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images Hollywood has always used the Oscars as a mirror. Some years, it reflects nostalgia. Other years, rebellion. In 2026, the Academy Awards nominations reveal something more complex and more exciting: a film industry in the middle of transformation, where spectacle and intimacy, global voices and auteur vision, coexist with unprecedented confidence. This year’s nominations feel less like a list and more like a statement. The Academy is no longe