While accepting the award, Waititi appeared to be overwhelmed by the “amazing” win and struggled to recall whom he needed to thank.
He did thank his mother, whom he said he had lost in the crowd “hours ago”.
“Thank you for being my mother and for many other reasons, but for giving me the book that I adapted,” he said.
“There are many other people I want to thank, but I won’t because I can’t remember them.”
He dedicated his win to “all the Indigenous kids in the world who want to do art, and dance and write stories”.
“We are the original storytellers, and we can make it [in Hollywood] as well.”
He ended his speech with “kia ora”.
He’s the first person of Maori descent to win an Oscar.
Waititi was nominated alongside fellow Kiwi Anthony McCarten, who wrote the screenplay for The Two Popes.
Watch Waititi’s full acceptance speech here:
#Oscars Moment: See the winner for Best Adapted Screenplay: @TaikaWaititi for @jojorabbitmovie pic.twitter.com/iLp6E384Bn
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 10, 2020
