The 97th annual Academy Awards have concluded with a near-sweep for the indie darling Anora, which received 5 of the six classes it was nominated in.
A lot of these wins got here in probably the most aggressive fields of the evening: Finest Actress, Finest Director, Finest Unique Screenplay and Finest Enhancing.
And on the conclusion of Sunday’s awards ceremony, Anora additionally scored the most important prize of all, Finest Image.
It trounced the duelling musicals Emilia Perez and Depraved, which obtained 13 and 10 nominations respectively — however solely received two Oscars apiece.
And it additionally proved to be an even bigger crowd-pleaser amongst the Academy voters than one other impartial movie favorite, The Brutalist, which picked up three wins out of 10 nominations.
However among the largest takeaways of the night didn’t come within the remaining tally of who devoured up probably the most Oscars. As a substitute, they got here within the beliefs espoused on the Oscars stage: daring statements underscoring the necessity for justice and an acknowledgement of our shared humanity.
Listed below are 5 main themes that emerged from tonight’s Oscar awards.
No Different Land sends highly effective message about ethnic cleaning
One of many largest surprises of the evening got here within the aggressive Finest Documentary Characteristic class, when the movie No Different Land was named the winner.
The movie chronicles the destruction of the West Financial institution city of Masafer Yatta, the place one of many movie’s administrators, Basel Adra, is from.
Adra teamed up with Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham to seize the violent assaults Israeli settlers launch on Masafer Yatta, pushing its Palestinian residents from their houses and burning buildings to the bottom.
The movie additionally captures the rising — however generally tense — friendship between Adra and Abraham, as they navigate the restrictions Palestinians within the West Financial institution face.
Regardless of the movie racking up accolades at movie festivals around the globe, no distributor stepped ahead to offer the documentary a large launch within the US. To qualify for Sunday’s Oscars, the filmmakers needed to prepare a one-week screening at New York’s Lincoln Heart.
However the filmmakers didn’t deal with these hurdles after they took the Oscar stage to simply accept their prize.
As a substitute, they stored their remarks centred on the persevering with loss of life and destruction Palestinians face in Gaza and the West Financial institution.
“ About two months in the past, I grew to become a father,” Adra instructed the viewers.
“And my hope to my daughter [is] that she won’t must stay the identical life I’m residing now — at all times fearing settler violence, residence demolitions and forcible displacements that my neighborhood Masafer Yatta resides and going through day-after-day below Israeli occupation.”
Each Adra and Abraham appealed to the worldwide neighborhood to strain Israel for an finish to the human rights abuses.
“No Different Land displays the tough actuality that we’ve been enduring for many years,” Adra defined. “We name on the world to take severe actions to cease the injustice and cease the ethnic cleaning of the Palestinian individuals.”
Abraham, in the meantime, directed his feedback particularly on the largely American viewers watching the Academy Awards.
“The overseas coverage on this nation helps to dam this path,” Abraham added, to applause. “Can’t you see that we’re intertwined — that my individuals may be really secure if Basel’s individuals are really free and secure?”
Anora places intercourse employees’ humanity within the highlight
With its 5 wins, Anora additionally solid a highlight on a misunderstood and infrequently stereotyped neighborhood: intercourse employees.
The movie follows the story of a Russian American stripper named Anora, who lives a precarious existence in Brighton Seashore, Brooklyn. When the younger son of a Russian oligarch takes a shine to her, Anora begins to think about a greater life for herself — and when he proposes marriage, she accepts.
However issues collapse when the younger man’s dad and mom demand the wedding be annulled — and the son flees, leaving Anora to confront the implications alone.
This isn’t the primary movie from director Sean Baker to deal with intercourse employees. His 2015 movie Tangerine, shot totally on iPhones, follows a pair of transgender intercourse employees on Christmas Eve. It proved to be certainly one of his breakout hits.
Baker acknowledged the methods intercourse employees and different individuals on the margins of society formed his work in certainly one of his many acceptance speeches on Sunday evening.
“I wish to thank the intercourse employee neighborhood. They’ve shared their tales. They’ve shared their life experiences with me through the years. My deepest respect,” Baker mentioned. “I share this with you.”
Mikey Madison, Anora’s main girl, echoed his appreciation with gratitude of her personal.
“I additionally simply wish to once more recognise and honour the intercourse employee neighborhood,” she mentioned as she accepted the Finest Actress trophy.
“I’ll proceed to assist and be an ally. All the unbelievable individuals — the ladies I’ve had the privilege of assembly from that neighborhood — has been one of many highlights of this complete unbelievable expertise.”
Artists blast hate and authoritarian leanings, at residence and overseas
Questions on democracy, discrimination and human rights basically floated over the evening’s proceedings, marking a refined however distinctly current motif.
In a speech accepting the Finest Actor award for his work in The Brutalist, performer Adrien Brody spoke in sweeping idealistic phrases, reflecting on how each of his Oscar wins — this yr and in 2003 — got here on the again of movies in regards to the Holocaust.
“I’m right here as soon as once more to characterize the lingering traumas and repercussions of battle and systematic oppression and of anti-Semitism and racism and othering,” Brody mentioned.
“And I consider — I pray — for a more healthy and a happier and a extra inclusive world. And I consider, if the previous can train us something, it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked.”
Brody was solely 29 when he received his first Finest Actor trophy for The Pianist, a narrative of a musician’s survival within the Warsaw ghetto throughout World Struggle II. This yr, he as soon as once more topped the class for his portrayal of László Tóth, a brutalist architect who survives the Holocaust solely to face anti-Semitism and violence in america.
One other huge winner tackled the topic of Brazil’s dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985.
The movie I’m Nonetheless Right here traced the real-life story of Eunice Paiva, whose husband, a congressman, was taken into custody by Brazilian troopers, by no means to be seen once more. She devoted her life to uncovering what occurred to him.
Whereas accepting the award for Finest Worldwide Characteristic, director Walter Salles paid tribute to Paiva’s sacrifices.
“ This goes to a girl who, after a loss suffered throughout an authoritarian regime, determined to not bend and to withstand,” Salles instructed the viewers.
Resistance was additionally the topic of a late quip from Oscar host Conan O’Brien, who largely averted the topic of politics all through the evening.
However as Anora began to rack up the wins, O’Brien couldn’t assist however take a jab at US President Donald Trump, who has proven an affinity for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin — a person accused of battle crimes in Ukraine.
“Anora’s having a very good evening. That’s nice information. Two wins already. I suppose People are excited to see any person lastly stand as much as a robust Russian,” O’Brien mentioned to riotous applause.
Sean Baker, Zoe Saldana and Paul Tazewell notch new ‘firsts’
It was a historic evening for a number of of the nominees, who broke new data with their wins.
By no means earlier than had a single artist walked away with 4 awards on the identical evening for a similar movie. That’s, not till Baker did so on Sunday along with his movie Anora.
He received for Finest Director, Finest Enhancing, Finest Unique Screenplay and Finest Image, his arms brimming with little golden statuettes by the top of the evening.
However different winners notched wins that broke limitations for range — a not insignificant process on the Oscars, which skews white and male.
Paul Tazewell, as an illustration, grew to become the primary African American man to win the Finest Costume Design class, for his work on the Broadway musical adaptation Depraved.
“That is completely astounding. Thanks, Academy, for this very important honour,” Tazewell mentioned as he took the stage, choking with emotion. “I’m the primary Black man to obtain the Costume Design award for my work on Depraved. I’m so pleased with this.”
The group, at that time, had largely leapt to its ft.
Performer Zoe Saldana additionally highlighted the historic nature of her win as she took the stage to simply accept the Finest Supporting Actress trophy for her work singing and dancing within the musical Emilia Perez.
“My grandmother got here to this nation in 1961. I’m a proud baby of immigrant dad and mom with goals and dignity and hardworking palms, and I’m the primary American of Dominican origin to simply accept an Academy Award,” Saldana mentioned.
“I do know I can’t be the final. I hope the truth that I’m getting an award for a task the place I received to sing and converse in Spanish — my grandmother, if she have been right here, she could be so delighted.”
Performers testify to the facility of cinema
Regardless of the glitz and glamour at Sunday’s Oscars, a bitter actuality prevails in Hollywood: The film trade has but to emerge from its pandemic-era droop after COVID-19 struck in 2020.
The gross home yield from US field workplace gross sales dropped from greater than $11bn per yr to barely $2bn in 2020, in response to the trade web site Field Workplace Mojo.
Since then, gross sales have slowly began to get well, however they’ve but to achieve that pre-pandemic whole. In 2024, as an illustration, US film ticket gross sales solely generated $8.6bn.
With competitors from streaming providers rising, the artists on stage at Sunday’s Oscars appealed to audiences not to surrender on the magic of the films.
“The place did we fall in love with the films? On the film theatre,” Baker mentioned as he picked up the Oscar for Finest Director.
“Watching a movie within the theatre with an viewers is an expertise we are able to snort collectively, cry collectively, scream in fright collectively, maybe sit in devastated silence collectively. And in a time during which the world can really feel very divided, that is extra vital than ever. It’s a communal expertise you merely don’t get at residence.”
Brody, in the meantime, mirrored on the precarious nature of pursuing performing as a occupation, in a time of accelerating instability within the arts. He struggled to land main roles after his success in 2003’s The Pianist.
“ Performing is a really fragile occupation. It appears very glamorous, and in sure moments, it’s. However the one factor that I’ve gained, having the privilege to come back again right here, is to have some perspective. And irrespective of the place you might be in your profession, it doesn’t matter what you’ve completed, it will probably all go away,” Brody mentioned.
Baker, alternatively, highlighted the monetary pitfalls going through film theatres themselves, particularly domestically owned ones.
“Proper now, the theatre-going expertise is below menace. Film theatres, particularly independently owned theatres, are struggling,” he mentioned. “It’s as much as us to assist them.”
