Everything you need to know about the Oscars 2025

«Today this could be the greatest day of our lives». To the notes of the remixed version of Take That’s Greatest Day, the film directed by Sean Baker, Anora, begins. The movie won five Academy Awards out of six nominations after already claiming the Palme d'Or following its premiere at the Cannes Festival, all while having a budget of just $6 million, officially establishing itself as an independent work. Among the accolades received by the film about the sex worker who gives the story its title is the award for Best Picture, the highest honor bestowed by the Academy. Much like at the French festival, it managed to slip past and overtake other contenders at the last moment—films that initially seemed much more favored than the American filmmaker’s ambitious project. But Baker’s rivals were left behind as he claimed four Oscars—including Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director—along with his lead actress, Mikey Madison for Best Actress, awarded by Quentin Tarantino. This also closed a loop that host Conan O’Brien had opened at the beginning of the evening: the centrality of the cinematic experience in theaters and the importance of bringing people back to these sacred places, as demonstrated by a sketch encouraging audiences to use the cinemastream service.

If one were to trace the main theme of the 2025 Academy Awards, it would be this: the pursuit of recognition that is no longer political, as it had been in recent years, but instead a commitment to a cause to which all Academy members are devoted. Some, grumbling, might say that this is for the better, that we should return to discussing films rather than their positioning in a framework that does not exclude social and political issues. This time, the path taken seems to have a dual track: on one side, the unexpected silence from Hollywood’s establishment regarding Donald Trump, in stark contrast to his first election in 2016, when strong opposing stances were taken; on the other, the genuine desire to bring cinema back to its origins. It’s no coincidence that another big winner of the evening was The Brutalist, which had already won Best Director at the Venice Film Festival and was made with a “mere” $10 million budget. A more than three-hour-long production, shot on film, alternating between English and Hungarian—partly enhanced with AI. This revelation might have cost it a few awards, though not significantly. The film evokes the great works of the past, demanding to be seen in a specific place: the movie theater.

Upon receiving the Oscar for Best Director, Sean Baker made sure to acknowledge his team (a crew of only forty-three people) before emphasizing the importance of ensuring that the moviegoing experience does not fade away. Meanwhile, Mikey Madison, born in ’99, claimed the statuette, surpassing not only Fernanda Torres with the beloved Io sono ancora qui but also Demi Moore for the body horror film The Substance. Already a BAFTA winner but considered an underdog compared to her rival directed by Coralie Fargeat, the lead actress of Anora followed the wave of her film’s success but left behind the disappointment of seeing another performer—long deemed "popcorn entertainment"—go unrecognized. Despite having won at other ceremonies, she will always have the feeling of being beaten by the «best version of herself»—and those who have seen the film will understand the reference. The disappointment was certainly greater than that of her fellow nominee Timothée Chalamet, who had defeated favorite Adrien Brody at the SAG Awards. However, Brody did not miss out on securing his second Oscar, after first winning in 2003 for The Pianist. It was a well-deserved victory over a young actor who is turning twenty-nine this year and, despite emphasizing that he spent five years preparing to fully embody Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, still has an entire career ahead of him to claim the coveted statuette—hopefully with a far more significant role than the usual, albeit well-executed, biopic. And if he truly is the new Leonardo DiCaprio, as many claim, he will have to wait years, but it will be worth it (though perhaps now is not the time to reopen the debate: was The Revenant really DiCaprio’s best role?).

For the rest, the 97th edition of the Oscars unfolded exactly as expected, with a show that is always improvable (we say this every year), but with Conan O’Brien proving to be a more natural and bold host, unlike Jimmy Kimmel’s recent hosting stints. He tackled sensitive topics both inside and outside the room, breaking the ice on the Emilia Peréz controversy and Karla Sofía Gascón by immediately making a joke about it, with the camera focusing on the actress who, until a few days ago, was almost banned from attending the ceremony. The film, exhausted from an intense Oscar campaign, took home two awards out of thirteen nominations. Nothing else was particularly noteworthy except for a sketch with Adam Sandler getting kicked out for his outfit—perhaps a gag about the awkward meeting between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office? Likely, but maybe out of place. There were also a few jabs here and there, like the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Highlighting the rise of Anora during the evening, the host commented: "I guess Americans are thrilled to finally see someone standing up to a powerful Russian."

The musical performances at the Oscars had enormous potential, deflated right from the first appearance of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Starting with Somewhere Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz and then duetting on the highly anticipated Defying Gravity, the performance set the average standard for the rest of the evening. Not due to the fault of the talented women on stage, but because of a lack of real spectacle, still overshadowed by last year’s memory of Ryan Gosling singing I’m Just Ken with Slash. There was also the inevitable tribute to Los Angeles, the honorary city of the Oscars, which was affected by the January wildfires, with firefighters appearing on stage. Many firsts were celebrated: a win for Latvia with Flow as Best Animated Feature, for Brazil with Io sono ancora qui, Paul Tazewell as the first Black costume designer to win for Wicked, and Zoe Saldana as Best Supporting Actress and the first Colombian-origin actress to win.

Only in one moment did the Oscars truly stand out—during the award for Best Documentary, given to No Other Land, a testimony to an Israeli-Palestinian alliance by a collective of filmmakers who documented the Israeli government's violence against displaced West Bank populations. However, even that was a frozen, almost suspended moment: deeply emotional but lacking the passionate support the Academy has often shown for just causes. The film, notably, is still without a U.S. distributor. Was this a response to the controversies sparked by Jonathan Glazer’s speech about the Gaza conflict after winning with The Zone of Interest last year? In any case, this edition leaves something to reflect on: wishing long life to independent cinema. Hopefully, precisely because it is disconnected from the industry, it will have the courage to tell even the most uncomfortable stories.