2025 Oscars Recap: Anora Wins Big with Five Awards, Including Best Picture and Best Director

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The 97th Academy Awards have come to a close, with Anora emerging as the big winner of the night, taking home five awards, including best picture and best director. Sean Baker, the director of Anora, made history by becoming the first person to win four Oscars for a single film, including awards for directing, editing, writing, and producing. Baker's win ties the record held by Walt Disney, who won four Oscars in 1954, but for four different films.

Anora, a strip club Cinderella story without the fairy tale ending, was crowned best picture, handing Baker's gritty, Brooklyn-set screwball farce Hollywood's top prize. The film's star, Mikey Madison, won the award for best actress, beating out competition from Demi Moore and Karla Sofía Gascón, who made history as the first transgender woman to be nominated in any acting category. Madison's win was seen as a major upset, as Gascón was considered the favorite to win. Other winners on the night included Adrien Brody, who won his second best actor Oscar for his performance in The Brutalist, and Zoe Saldaña, who became the first American of Dominican descent to win an Oscar, taking home the award for best supporting actress for her role in Emilia Pérez.

The ceremony, which was hosted by Conan O'Brien, featured a number of memorable moments, including a tribute to the city of Los Angeles, which was devastated by wildfires earlier this year. The tribute, which was performed by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, featured a medley of songs from the musical Wicked, including "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Defying Gravity." Other performers on the night included Raye, Liza from Blackpink, and Doja Cat, who performed as part of a James Bond tribute. The night also featured a number of awards for other films, including The Brutalist, which won awards for cinematography and original score, and Dune: Part Two, which won awards for visual effects and sound.

The winners of the 97th Academy Awards were as follows:

• Best Picture: Anora
• Best Director: Sean Baker, Anora
• Best Actress: Mikey Madison, Anora
• Best Actor: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
• Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
• Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
• Best Animated Feature: Flow
• Best International Film: I'm Still Here
• Best Documentary: No Other Land

The night's winners were chosen from a pool of nominees that included some of the biggest films of the year, including Wicked, The Brutalist, and Dune: Part Two. The ceremony was seen as a celebration of the power of film to bring people together and to tell important stories. As Baker said in his acceptance speech, "Where did we fall in love with movies? At the movie theater. Filmmakers, keep making films for the big screen."

The 97th Academy Awards were also notable for the number of records that were broken. Baker's win for four Oscars for a single film ties the record held by Walt Disney, and Saldaña's win makes her the first American of Dominican descent to win an Oscar. The ceremony also featured a number of firsts, including the first time an actor was nominated for portraying a sitting U.S. president, and the first time a Latvian film won an Oscar. The night's winners will be remembered for their outstanding achievements in filmmaking, and the ceremony will be seen as a celebration of the art of filmmaking and the power of film to bring people together.

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