- The indie darling Anora has emerged as the big winner at tonight’s 97th annual Academy Awards, winning Best Picture as well as Best Actress for 25-year-old star Mikey Madison and a trio of awards for Sean Baker: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing.
- Both Baker and Madison recognised the sex worker community in their acceptance speeches.
- Host Conan O’Brien kept his remarks apolitical, save for one joke comparing Anora to US President Donald Trump: “Anora’s having a good night. That’s great news … I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian.”
- One of the biggest surprises of the night was the film No Other Land’s win for Best Documentary Feature. It had struggled to gain distributors in the US.
- No Other Land’s directing team called on the world to “stop the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people”.
- Actor Adrien Brody notched a second win in the coveted Best Actor category, and he appealed to his audience “to not let hate go unchecked”.
- Other big acting wins went to Kieran Culkin for Best Supporting Actor for his role in A Real Pain, and to Zoe Saldana for Best Supporting Actress for the musical Emilia Perez.
Never before has a single person walked out of an Oscars ceremony with four separate awards for one film.
But tonight, Sean Baker — the writer, director and editor of the drama Anora — did just that.
Anora told the story of a Brooklyn sex worker nicknamed Ani, who finds herself in a whirlwind marriage to the son of a Russian oligarch. But when his parents come to the US to annul the marriage, the son scampers, leaving Ani to face their wrath on her own.
Baker leaves tonight’s Oscars with awards for Best Director, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture.
Here is how many awards were handed out tonight to the heavy-hitters:
- Anora: five wins, six nominations
- The Brutalist: three wins, 10 nominations
- Emilia Perez: two wins, 13 nominations
- Wicked: two wins, 10 nominations
- Dune: Part Two: two wins, five nominations
- Conclave: one win, eight nominations
- The Substance: one win, five nominations