Neon’s Anora and its multihyphenate filmmaker Sean Baker were the big winners at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday night, taking five trophies including Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Editing — all for Baker — and Best Actress for Mikey Madison.
In his acceptance speech for Best Picture, Baker said: “If you’re trying to make independent films, please keep doing it. We need more. This is proof.”
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These were the first Oscars for Baker — who tied Walt Disney for the most Oscars in a single year — and Madison. The Best Picture prize for Palme d’Or champ Anora was presented by Quentin Tarantino at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
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Adrien Brody took Best Actor for A24’s The Brutalist, 22 years after his win for The Pianist. He also won the BAFTA Film Award last month for his role as visionary architect László Tóth in the film set after the Second World War.
“I pray for a healthier and a happier and a more inclusive world,” Brody said onstage. “And I believe if the past can teach us anything, it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked.”
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Madison won the Oscar for her first major big-screen leading role, playing a feisty sex worker from Brooklyn who has a whirlwind marriage to the son of a Russian oligarch that doesn’t sit well with his parents. Demi Moore went into the ceremony as the presumptive favorite for her chilling role in The Substance.
“This is a dream come true,” Better Things alum Madison said in her acceptance speech. “I’m probably going to wake up tomorrow.”
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Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Culkin surprised few with their wins for Best Supporting Actress and Actor for Netflix’s Emilia Pérez and Searchlight’s A Real Pain, respectively. They barreled through awards season with one win after another, and these are the first Oscars for both.
Peter Straughan took Adapted Screenplay for Focus Features’ Conclave. It’s also his first Oscar on his second nom, but the script wasn’t eligible for the WGA prize due to eligibility rules.
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Best Animated Feature then went to Sideshow/Janus Films’ Flow, in somewhat of an upset over The Wild Robot, which had dominated at the Annie Awards last month. Winner of the Annie for Indie Feature, Flow is the first film from Latvia to win any Oscar.
Brazil later won its first Academy Award on its fifth nomination, taking Best International Feature for Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here starring Best Actress nominee Fernanda Torres.
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Set in the occupied West Bank and directed by a collective of Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, the self-distributed No Other Land won Best Documentary after its triumph at the IDA Awards. Another group of first-time Oscar winners.
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez won Best Song, the first Academy Award for songwriters Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard. Meanwhile, Diane Warren’s Oscar agony continues: She now has 16 career nominations and no wins. Daniel Blumberg later got his first career Oscar, taking Original Score prize for The Brutalist after winning at the Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards.
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Best Costume Design went to Paul Tazewell for Wicked, who won for Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film at the Costume Designers Guild Awards. It’s not only his first Oscar, it’s the first for a Black man in the category, as he noted from the stage.
The Production Design prize went to Wicked production designer Nathan Crowley and set decorator Lee Sandales, following their big win at the Art Directors Guild Awards. It’s the first win for either; Crowley had six previous noms and Sandales had three. Lol Crawley took Best Cinematography Oscar for The Brutalist for his first Academy Award. He lost to Maria‘s Edward Lachman at the American Society Of Cinematographers Awards last month.
Warner Bros’ Dune: Part Two won back-to-back Oscars for Best Sound and Visual Effects, joining Wicked as the only double winners in the crafts categories. The Dune sequel won last month at the MPSE Golden Reel Awards for sound and also won four prizes at the Visual Effects Society Awards.
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Later, Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli took Best Makeup and Hairstyling for The Substance, following its two wins at Make-Up Artists and Hair Styling Guild Awards. It’s the first Oscar for all three winners.
In the Shadow of the Cypress took the Animated Short Film prize, and The Only Girl in the Orchestra won for Documentary Short.
Anora led all films with its five Oscars, followed by The Brutalist with three. Dune: Part Two, Wicked and Emilia Pérez were the only other multiple winners. Neon led the distributors with the five wins for Anora. A24 and Netflix got three each, and Warner Bros, and Universal won two apiece.
Eight of the 2025 Best Picture nominees won an Oscar, with only A Complete Unknown and Nickel Boys going home empty-handed.
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The annual In Memoriam segment paid tribute to the many people from the entertainment industry we lost since the 2024 Oscars. The list included Gene Hackman — who got a special tribute from Morgan Freeman leading into the segment — David Lynch, Donald Sutherland, James Earl Jones, Maggie Smith, Shelley Duvall, Dabney Coleman, Teri Garr, Louis Gossett Jr., Anouk Aimée, Bob Newhart, John Amos, Gena Rowlands, Charles Shyer, Roger Corman, Al Ruddy, Jon Landau, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Plowright, Fumi Kitahara and more.
Later, 28-time Grammy winner Quincy Jones got a special tribute with Queen Latifah singing “Ease on Down the Road” from The Wiz. The number was introduced by Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg, who both count the Jones-scored The Color Purple as their first film role.
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Emilia Pérez came into the evening with a leading 13 Oscar nominations, followed by The Brutalist and Wicked with 10 each, A Complete Unknown and Conclave with eight apiece and Anora with six. Netflix has 16 noms to lead all distributors, with A24 next at 14, followed by Universal (13), Focus Features (12) and Searchlight (10).
Conan O’Brien made his hosting debut with the ceremony, which ABC aired live coast-to-coast and Hulu streamed live — which suffered some early glitches and whose viewers missed the last two awards.
Here are the 2025 Oscar winners:
BEST PICTURE
Anora (Neon)
A Cre Films Production
Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Mikey Madison in Anora (Neon)
DIRECTING
Anora (Neon) Sean Baker
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Adrien Brody in The Brutalist (A24)
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
The Brutalist (A24)
Daniel Blumberg
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
I’m Still Here (Brazil)
A VideoFilmes Produções Artísticas Production
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Brutalist (A24)
Lol Crawley
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
I’m Not a Robot (The New Yorker)
Victoria Warmerdam and Trent
VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.)
Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer
SOUND
Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.)
Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
No Other Land
An Antipode Films Production
Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Netflix)
Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
El Mal from Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
Music by Clément Ducol and Camille
Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Wicked (Universal)
Production Design: Nathan Crowley
Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Zoe Saldaña in Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
FILM EDITING
Anora (Neon) Sean Baker
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
The Substance (Mubi)
Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
Conclave (Focus Features)
Screenplay by Peter Straughan
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
Anora (Neon)
Written by Sean Baker
COSTUME DESIGN
Wicked (Universal)
Paul Tazewell
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
In the Shadow of the Cypress
Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Flow (Sideshow/Janus Films)
Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain (Searchlight)
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