The 2025 Oscars were held on Sunday, March 2, in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theatre, and the award ceremony had its ups and downs. Many predicted favorites won the coveted statuette, but there were some upsetting speeches.
The night’s biggest winner was Anora with five awards: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Actress, and the coveted Best Picture. Regardless of my opinion on the film, it’s impressive that Sean Baker wrote, directed, and edited Anora alone. He utilized his Best Director win speech time to encourage fellow filmmakers and distributors to put more movies into theatres as well as inviting viewers to see more films in theatres.
“And for all of us, when we can, please watch movies in the theatre and let’s keep the great tradition of the movie going experience alive and well,” Baker said in his speech. I second this message: seeing films in theaters can improve the experience.
Perhaps the biggest upset of the night (to me at least) was Mikey Madison winning the Best Actress Oscar for the titular role in Anora. Demi Moore was the favorite, winning the Golden Globe, Critic’s Choice, and SAG awards for her performance in The Substance. I was rooting for her or Fernanda Torres in I’m Still Here to get the Oscar. Many people on social media have pointed out the tendency of the Academy to reward actresses in sexual roles. Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph from Abbott Elementary commented on this notion, saying, “I have told people over and over again: the fastest way to an Oscar is either on the pole or… I’m telling you, sex sells baby, sex sells.”
It’s interesting to consider that just last year, Emma Stone won the Best Actress Oscar for Poor Things, which featured several full-nudity sex scenes. I want to emphasize that this point is to critique the trend of the Academy to reward sexual performances and not to diminish the work or skills of any woman who won an Oscar in a sexual role.
As expected, both Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldana won their Oscars for Supporting Acting roles. Culkin praised former Succession co-star and fellow nominee Jeremy Strong while joking with his wife about having more children. Saldana shared her joy at getting to speak her native language of Spanish in the controversial Emilia Perez. She was criticized for how she addressed a Mexican journalist sharing his concerns about the film: “For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico.” She went on to say that the story was about the women, who could’ve been from Detroit, Israel, or Gaza. User @autumn_breezy points out a central criticism that Emilia Perez exploited the trauma of Mexicans and appropriated their culture. Others criticized Saldana for waiting until winning an Oscar to address people’s problems with her film.
In addition to Best Supporting Actress, Emilia Perez took home the Oscar for Best Original Song. Out of a record-breaking 13 nominations, Emilia Perez only took home these two awards.
Despite her “racist” tweets, Karla Sofia Gascon attended the Oscars. Host Conan O’Brien made a joke about her racist Tweets, saying, “Anora uses the f word 479 times. That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofia Gascon’s publicist.” With the controversies surrounding the film and both Mexicans and trans people criticizing their representation, many were happy that Emilia Perez lost most of its nominations.
Adrien Brody won the Best Actor Oscar as predicted for his role in The Brutalist, which disappointed the Timothee Chalamet fans. I loved his performance and was happy for him until he gave the longest speech of all time (literally; — he talked for five and a half minutes). He was also criticized for saying, “I’ve done this before” when they tried to play the music to get him to stop talking. His disregard for time is especially insensitive considering one of the winners for Best Sound for Dune: Part Two didn’t even get to speak.
No Other Land shows the tragedy Palestinians in Gaza have endured over the past year and a half. One of the Palestinian creators, Basel Adra, discussed his goal with this documentary, saying, “..we call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.” One of the Israeli creators, Yuval Abraham, emphasizes the importance of unity and working together, which is essential. He states, “We made this film together, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger.” This win demonstrates the arts’ power in uplifting voices and discussing important political issues.
The 97th Academy Awards had many talented winners, some more surprising to the public than others. There have been many discussions about biases in the Academy for specific awards. Regardless, it was a memorable night, and I look forward to seeing great films this year that may be nominated for next year’s Oscars.