Every year, awards season garners attention from film industry members and fans alike. For what spans several months in the beginning of the year, it all comes to an end in March with the Academy Awards. The most coveted awards for movies, the Oscars ended the season on March 2, 2025.
“Anora” is the film that took away the most awards of the evening with a total of five. These include Best Director, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Picture. As director Sean Baker eloquently talks about in his speech, the film is a victory for independent pictures everywhere, as the film only had a six-million-dollar budget but still came out to be a whopping success. Since the film was independent, Baker was at the head of every step of production, meaning he personally walked away with four awards that night.
The extremely controversial film “Emilia Perez” started the evening with thirteen nominations, the most of any film that night. It was in the running for what are considered some of the most important awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Karla Sofia Gascon, the first openly transgender woman to be nominated. Though the film didn’t win any of those, it did walk away with a historic win. Zoe Saldana won Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She is the third Latina woman to win the award, however she is the first to win for a role other than Anita in “West Side Story” (Rita Moreno in 1962 and Ariana DeBose in 2022). The film also won Best Original Song for “El Mal.”
Wicked was nominated for ten awards at this year’s Oscars. Not only did it earn nominations for Best Picture and both actress categories, but it also was considered for Best Score, Sound, Editing, Visual Effects, and Costuming. They walked away with a win in Costuming and Production Design. Though the fan favorite duo of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo did not win their respective awards, they started off the show with a mesmerizing performance of “Defying Gravity,” one of the most popular songs from the movie.
Some other wins include Best Sound and Best Visual Effects for “Dune: Part Two.” This film’s predecessor won in similar technology-based categories for the 2022 Oscars, so the prizes it won this year come with no surprise.
Demi Moore in “The Substance” was one of the more consistent awarded performances of the season but failed to take home the Best Actress in a Leading Role award, which came as a shock to many viewers. “The Substance” only ended up winning one out of five of its nominations, which ended up being Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
“The Brutalist” was one of the more pretentious films of the year with ten nominations. The three-hour runtime and using AI for the actors’ accents scandal potentially decreased its chance of success. It walked away with only three awards, including Best Actor in a Leading Role for Adrien Brody, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score.
Other awards include Kieran Culkin winning Best Supporting Actor for “A Real Pain,” a film that was slept on by the Academy and was only nominated for two Oscars. “Flow,” a silent film about a cat’s journey through survival and friendship during a flood, won Best Animated Feature. “Conclave” only won one award (Best Adapted Screenplay). “A Complete Unknown” was nominated for eight awards that night, but Timothee Chalamet, Monica Barbaro, and other members of cast and crew came out empty handed.
“I’m Still Here” was another sleeper film of the year. A Brazilian film that was nominated for Best Picture, Best International Picture, and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Fernanda Torres was only deemed up to par in the International Feature category.
Other category wins include “In the Shadow of the Cypress” for Animated Short, “No Other Land” for Documentary Feature, “The Only Girl in the Orchestra” for Documentary Short, and “I’m Not a Robot” for Live Action Short.
Another highlight of the awards includes Conan O’Brien’s hit of a hosting gig. Though his screentime was limited, his jokes landed, and his charm radiated through the screen. He does what a lot of hosts have struggled with: staying unoffensive.
Additionally, Margaret Qualley kicked off a marvelous James Bond tribute with a stellar dance routine, followed by performances by Lisa from Blackpink, Doja Cat, and Raye. Additionally, they had a tribute to Quincy Jones, the songwriter whose work is featured in “The Wiz,” headlined by Queen Latifah.
The 97th Annual Academy Awards were not one to miss. For more information, you can visit the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website.
