Anora, a small-budget film about prostitution, sweeps top Oscar awards
News Mania Desk / Piyal Chatterjee / 3rd March 2025
Anora, the tale of a New York sex worker who unexpectedly marries a rich Russian client and seizes a chance for a fresh start, has secured five major Academy Awards, including the prestigious Best Picture.
The yearly glamorous event in Los Angeles, United States, on Sunday night also featured No Other Land, a documentary regarding the struggles of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, receiving an Oscar. Anora’s 25-year-old star, Mikey Madison, won Best Actress, and the film additionally secured Best Director for Sean Baker along with awards for original screenplay and editing.
In his acceptance speech, Baker urged filmmakers to continue producing projects for the big screen, lamenting the decline of the theatregoing experience. “In a time in which the world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever,” Baker said. “It’s a communal experience you simply don’t get at home. If we don’t reverse this trend, we’ll be losing a vital part of our culture. This is my battle cry.”
Adrien Brody secured his second Oscar, taking home the Best Actor award for portraying a Jewish immigrant and architect pursuing the American dream in The Brutalist. His initial victory occurred 22 years ago for The Pianist when he was 29 years old.
Zoe Saldana received the Best Supporting Actress award for portraying the fixer of a Mexican drug lord in Emilia Perez, a Spanish-language musical, while Kieran Culkin took home the Best Supporting Actor honor for the movie, A Real Pain.
I’m Still Here, a movie focusing on a family fragmented by the military dictatorship that governed Brazil for over twenty years, secured the nation’s inaugural Oscar victory in the international film segment. Directed by Walter Salles, the film features Fernanda Torres portraying Eunice Paiva, the spouse of Rubens Paiva, a previous leftist Brazilian congressman who, during the peak of the military dictatorship in 1971, was abducted from his family’s residence in Rio de Janeiro and was never seen again.
