Anora and filmmaker Sean Baker were the big winners at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday (March 2), with the film winning five Oscars including best picture and Baker himself taking four.
Though it went into the evening with a relatively modest six nominations, the independent comedy drama earned Baker the Oscars for directing, original screenplay and editing. He was also recognised as one of the film’s three producers.
Mikey Madison added to the Anora haul by winning the lead actress Oscar.
Among the other films with multiple nominations going into the ceremony, The Brutalist came away with three wins from 10 nominations: the lead actor Oscar for Adrien Brody and the honours for cinematography and original score.
Emilia Perez emerged with two Oscars from its 13 nominations – supporting actress for Zoe Saldana and original song – and Wicked won twice – for costume design and production design – after being nominated in ten categories.
The adapted screenplay Oscar went to Peter Staughan for his Conclave script and Kieran Culkin took the supporting actor award for A Real Pain.
Among distributors, Neon topped the list with the five Anora wins, while Netflix and A24, nominations leaders with 16 and 14 respectively, ended the night claiming three wins apiece.
The ceremony’s few surprises included Flow winning animated feature (and giving its home country Latvia a first Oscar win), a category in which The Wild Robot was considered the favourite.
The international feature Oscar went to Brazil’s I’m Still Here, which had emerged as a strong contender after early favourite Emilia Perez became hampered by the controversy surrounding star Karla Sofia Gascon.
No Other Land took the documentary feature Oscar, providing the ceremony with one of its few charged moments. The film’s Palestinian director Basel Adra used his acceptance speech to “call on the world to take serious action to stop the injustice and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people”. The film’s Israeli director Yuval Abraham called for “a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both our peoples.” He added that US policy “is helping to block this path”.
Sean Baker used one of his acceptance speeches to make a plea for filmmakers and distributors to support the exhibition business. “The theatre-going experience is under threat,” said Baker. “Movie theatres, especially independently-owned theatres, are struggling and it’s up to us to support them.”
The three-and-three-quarter hour Oscar ceremony in Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre was hosted for the first time by comedy writer and chat show host Conan O’Brien.
“Four-time Oscar viewer” O’Brien quickly addressed the Gascon controversy with a gentle comic jab during which TV cameras showed Gascon, originally expected to be absent from the ceremony, in the Dolby Theatre audience.
O’Brien also gave a serious nod to Los Angeles film workers affected by the city’s recent wildfires. Later in the ceremony, a group of Los Angeles firefighters were brought on stage to a standing ovation.
Morgan Freeman introduced the show’s In Memoriam segment with a tribute to Gene Hackman, whose death was discovered last week.
The show also included a tribute to music giant and film composer Quincy Jones.
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