Anora, a drama about a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, took home the best picture prize at the Academy Awards on Sunday.
The film, from independent distributor Neon, had six nominations going into the event, which was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. It won five. Filmmaker Sean Baker also won for directing, film editing and best original screenplay. Mikey Madison, a first time Oscar nominee, won best actress for her starring role in the picture.
Baker’s work often focuses on the lives of marginalised people. His past movies include The Florida Project, about a single mother and daughter scraping to get by under the shadow of Walt Disney World.
Anora has generated $40.9 million in box office receipts since its October release. Last year’s best picture winner, Universal’s Oppenheimer, took in close to $1 billion and won seven Oscars overall.
Baker used his acceptance speeches to urge filmmakers, studios and audiences to support seeing pictures in theatres.
“Long live independent film,” he said in accepting his final award.
Adrien Brody took home the best actor for his portrayal of a Jewish immigrant struggling to make it as an architect after World War II in The Brutalist, from independent studio A24. It also won best score.
Earlier in the evening Zoe Saldana took home the Oscar for best supporting actress for her performance in the Netflix film Emilia Perez.
Saldana, who is best known for her work in science fiction films like Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy, won for her portrayal of an attorney who helps the lead character change their identity. In an emotional acceptance speech in which she broke into tears several times, Saldana said she was the “proud child of immigrant parents” and the first actor of Dominican Republic origin to win.
Emilia Perez lead Karla Sofia Gascon, the first openly transgender person ever nominated for an acting Oscar, was in attendance. Gascon had come under fire recently for comments she made on social media years ago about Muslims and George Floyd.
Kieran Culkin took home the Oscar for best supporting actor. Culkin, a former child actor whose career saw a resurgence with the HBO drama Succession, won for his portrayal of a troublesome cousin on a Holocaust-themed tour of Poland in the film A Real Pain. The film was written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, who also co-starred.
The ceremony began with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, two of the stars of Wicked, singing a medley of songs, including Over the Rainbow from the original The Wizard of Oz.
Thai K-pop star Lalisa "Lisa" Manobal performed Live and Let Die from a classic James Bond movie.
Paul Tazewell took home the trophy for costume design for Wicked. He is the first Black man to win that prize. Flow won the best animated feature film, besting nominees that included Universal’s The Wild Robot and Walt Disney’s Inside Out 2. Flow is the first Latvian film to win an Oscar.
Peter Straughan won the adapted screenplay prize for the papal thriller Conclave.
The feature-length documentary award went to No Other Land, about the recent conflict in the Middle East. The filmmakers, a Palestinian-Israeli collective, used their acceptance speech to criticise US policy in the region. Brazil’s I’m Still Here won best international film.
Host Conan O’Brien delivered a monologue with jokes about Netflix leading among studios with the most price increases and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos being delivered to the theatre in a package, which was later stolen from the red carpet.
This year’s awards were held under the shadow of the wildfires that tore through Los Angeles earlier in the year. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences used the event as a fundraiser for fire victims.
The Oscars were broadcast on Disney’s ABC network and for the first time on the company’s Hulu streaming service. Tens of thousands of subscribers reported problems accessing Hulu during the ceremony, however. Disney apologised for the inconvenience.
