Armenian-American Sev Ohanian makes Oscar history with Sinners’ 16 nominations

The film "Sinners", co-produced by Armenian-American Sev Ohanian, has made Oscar history with a record 16 nominations, the most ever for a single film. It surpasses the previous record of 14 held by "All About Eve" (1950), "Titanic" (1997), and "La La Land" (2016).

Sinners already broke box office records as the highest-grossing original film of the 2020s and among R-rated original horror films, earning over $368 million worldwide against a $90 million budget. The film’s supernatural plot follows two brothers who return to their Jim Crow-era Mississippi hometown, only to discover it is under attack by vampires.

Ohanian appears to be the second Armenian-American and third Armenian overall to receive the coveted Best Picture nomination, following Armenian-American Hank Moonjean for "Dangerous Liaisons" in 1988 and British-Armenian Tanya Seghatchian for "The Power of the Dog" in 2021.

Earlier this month, Ohanian accepted the Golden Globe for Cinematic & Box Office achievement, while "Sinners" also won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score.

At just 38, Ohanian was recently honored as the inaugural inductee of the Armenian Film Hall of Fame. Looking ahead, he dreams of filming in Armenia, and bringing Armenian stories and talent to the big screen.

In addition, Armenian-American filmmaker Madeline Sharafian was nominated in the category Best Animated Feature film as director of Disney/Pixar’s “ELIO.”