Anora, the ersatz Cinderella story about a stripper who impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch from writer-director Sean Baker was the big winner at the 95th Academy Awards this evening, taking home five Oscar statuetttes. Serving as writer, director, producer and editor on Anora meant that Baker took to the stage four times to receive Oscar trophies, with star Mikey Madison winning for Best Actress.
One of Baker’s wins continues a streak of writer-directors winning Best Original Screenplay that started with David Seidler won for The King’s Speech in 2011. He took his third time on stage, accepting the award for Best Director, to advocate for the theatrical filmgoing experience, urging filmmakers to “Keep making movies for the big screen!”
With thirteen nominations, Emilia Perez was considered one of the frontrunners at the start of this Oscar season. However, after a scandal over social media messages from star and nominee Karla Sofía Gascón seemed to tank any early momentum that the film seemed to have. Ultimately, the film would only take home statuettes, Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldana and Best Song. Zoe Saldana took her moment to note that she was the first person from the Dominican Republic to win an Oscar, stating “I am a proud child of immigrant parents. With dreams and dignity and hard-working hands.”
Paul Tazewell’s win for Costuming for Wicked marks him as the first black man to win in this category.
Flow‘s win in the Best Animated Feature category is the first Oscar win for any film from Lativa. The film was also nominated in the Best International feature category, but lost to Brazil’s I’m Still Here.
Here is the complete list of this year’s winners –
Best Picture – Anora
Directing – Sean Baker, Anora
Actor in a Leading Role – Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Actress in a Leading Role – Mikey Madison, Anora
Actor in a Supporting Role – Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Actress in a Supporting Role – Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Writing (Adapted Screenplay) – Conclave (Screenplay by Peter Straughan)
Writing (Original Screenplay) – Anora (Written by Sean Baker)
Animated Feature Film – Flow
Animated Short Film – In the Shadow of the Cypress (Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi)
Cinematography – The Brutalist (Lol Crawley)
Costume Design – Wicked (Paul Tazewell)
Film Editing – Anora (Sean Baker)
Makeup and Hairstyling – The Substance (Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli)
Live-Action Short Film – I’m Not a Robot (Victoria Warmerdam and Trent)
Music (Original Score) – The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg)
Music (Original Song) – “El Mal” from Emilia Pérez (Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard)
Documentary Feature Film – No Other Land (Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham)
Documentary Short Film – The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington)
International Feature Film – I’m Still Here (Brazil)
Production Design – Wicked (Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales)
Sound – Dune: Part Two (Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill)
Visual Effects – Dune: Part Two (Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer)
