Oscars 2025 Winners
All hail Anora as Sean Baker’s dramedy sweeps this year’s Oscars.
Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo opened the show with a sensational rendition of Defying Gravity and set the bar sky high. The 97th Academy Awards continued to soar from there as a star-studded celebration of cinema with a sprinkling of surprises to sing about.
Writer-director Sean Baker made history by becoming the first person to win four Oscars in one night as his bittersweet modern fairytale in New York about a sex worker who becomes entangled with a Russian oligarch’s wayward son was awarded best Film Editing, Original Screenplay, Directing, and Best Picture. Its star, relative newcomer Mikey Madison, exceeded expectations against fierce competition to win Best Actress as Anora completed an impressive sweep.
Kieran Culkin, Zoe Saldaña, and Adrien Brody completed awards season sweeps of their own, each with an Oscar to their Golden Globes and BAFTAs in their respective acting categories. The Brutalist star became a two-time Best Actor winner following his first for The Pianist, Emilia Pérez’s Supporting Actress is the first actor of Dominican descent to receive the honour, and A Real Pain’s Supporting Actor almost stole this entire show as well with a hilariously honest acceptance speech.
The BAFTA big winner Conclave only received one award, for British writer Peter Straughan for his Adapted Screenplay. The Brutalist scored two wins for the Brits: Lol Crawley for Cinematography and Daniel Blumberg for Original Score. There was some success for the big blockbusters as Wicked and Dune: Part Two won two awards apiece, for Production Design and Costuming and Sound and Visual Effects respectively, while shock body horror The Substance claimed Make Up and Hairstyling. Artful cat adventure Flow was named best Animated Feature Film while best Documentary went to No Other Land, a remarkable collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers about the ongoing conflict in the region.
As well as the year’s films, the ceremony also honoured the legacy of industry legends James Bond and Quincy Jones, real life heroes in the LA firefighters, and all of the people from across the industry that were sadly lost this year, as Morgan Freeman gave a touching tribute to his dear friend the late Gene Hackman during an emotional In Memorium segment.
