Anora, a strip club Cinderella story without the fairy tale ending, was crowned best picture at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday, handing Sean Baker’s gritty, Brooklyn-set screwball farce Hollywood’s top prize.
In a stubbornly fluctuating Oscar season, Anora, the Palme d’Or-winner at the Cannes Film Festival, emerged as the unlikely frontrunner. Baker’s tale of an erotic dancer who elopes with the son of a Russian oligarch – unusually explicit for a best-picture winner – was made for just US$6million.
But Oscar voters, eschewing blockbuster contenders like Wicked and Dune: Part Two, instead added Anora to a string of recent indie best picture winners, including Everything Everywhere All at Once, CODA and Nomadland.
Mikey Madison won best actress for her breakthrough performance in Anora, a victory that came over the category favorite, Demi Moore (The Substance).
Sean Baker, the filmmaker of Anora, won best director, best original screenplay and best editing. Baker used his acceptance speech for best director to preach passionately for the theatrical experience.
Adrien Brody clinched his second Oscar for best actor, winning for his role as a visionary Hungarian architect in The Brutalist.
Kieran Culkin picked up the first award of the night for A Real Pain, pipping Australian Guy Pearce. Zoe Saldaña later earned her first Academy Award for best supporting actress in Emilia Pérez, capping an already accomplished awards season.
Host Conan O’Brien got the show and his monolog off to a start filled with his usual sarcastic humor.
Meanwhile, Morgan Freeman gave tribute to two-time Oscar winner Gene Hackman, four days after Hackman was found dead.
“This week our community lost a giant, and I lost a dear friend, Gene Hackman,” he said.
ALL THE 2025 OSCARS WINNERS
Best picture
Anora – WINNER
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
I’m Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked
Best actor
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist – WINNER
Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice
Best actress
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison – Anora – WINNER
Demi Moore – The Substance
Fernanda Torres – I’m Still Here
Best director
Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
Sean Baker – Anora – WINNER
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
James Mangold – A Complete Unknown
Best supporting actress
Monica Barbaro – A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez
Best supporting actor
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain – WINNER
Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice
Best adapted screenplay
A Complete Unknown – Jay Cocks and James Mangold
Conclave – Peter Straughan
Emilia Pérez – Jacques Audiard
Nickel Boys – RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing – Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar
Best original screenplay
Anora – Sean Baker – WINNER
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
September 5 – Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, Alex David
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat
Best original song
Never Too Late – Elton John: Never Too Late
El Mal – Emilia Pérez – WINNER
Mi Camino – Emilia Pérez
Like A Bird – Sing Sing
The Journey – The Six Triple Eight
Best original score
The Brutalist – WINNER
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Wicked
The Wild Robot
Best international feature
I’m Still Here – Brazil – WINNER
The Girl with the Needle – Denmark
Emilia Pérez – France
The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Germany
Flow – Latvia
Best animated feature
Flow – WINNER
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
Best documentary feature
Black Box Diaries
No Other Land – WINNER
Porcelain War
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane
Best costume design
Wicked – WINNER
Nosferatu
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Gladiator II
Best make-up and hairstyling
A Different Man
Emilia Pérez
Nosferatu
The Substance – WINNER
Wicked
Best production design
Wicked – WINNER
The Brutalist
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Conclave
Best sound
A Complete Unknown
Dune: Part Two – WINNER
Emilia Pérez
Wicked
The Wild Robot
Best film editing
Anora – WINNER
The Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Wicked
Best cinematography
The Brutalist- WINNER
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Maria
Nosferatu
Best visual effects
Alien: Romulus
Better Man
Dune: Part Two – WINNER
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Wicked
Best live action short
Anuja
I’m Not a Robot – WINNER
The Last Ranger
A Lien
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
Best animated short
Beautiful Men
In the Shadow of the Cypress – WINNER
Magic Candies
Wander to Wonder
Yuck!
Best documentary short
Death by Numbers
I Am Ready, Warden
Incident
Instruments of a Beating Heart
The Only Girl in the Orchestra – WINNER
(Courtesy Nine News)
