On March 2, local time, the 97th Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. "Anora" won five awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing, becoming the biggest winner of the night.
"Anora" tells the story of New York stripper Annie who married Ivan, the son of a Russian oligarch, after a one-night stand. The two Russian immigrants employed by the oligarch to supervise Ivan had to do everything they could to force Annie to sign a divorce agreement. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year and won the Palme d'Or. After entering the awards season, it won several leading awards such as the Critics' Choice Award, the Producers Guild Award, and the Directors Guild Award. It was a natural progression for it to win the Oscar.
Poster of Anora
Among the multiple awards won by "Anola", the most unexpected was the Best Actress Award for Mickey Madison, who defeated the highly popular Demi Moore ("Something Substantial").
Mickey Madison. Visual China Image
Sean Baker became the first filmmaker to win four awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay for one film. Walt Disney won four Oscars in 1954 for four different films. It is unlikely that anyone will be able to achieve Sean Baker's record in the future.
Sean Baker. Visual China Image
Adrien Brody, the star of "Wild Men", defeated Timothée Chalamet of "Nobody" and won the Oscar for Best Actor for the second time after "The Pianist". Brody, who won the Oscar twice for playing a Jewish survivor of World War II, called on everyone not to forget history and not to repeat the same mistakes.
Adrien Brody. Visual China Image
The first upset of the night occurred in the Best Animated Feature Film category, where the Latvian film "Life of Cats", which is currently showing in domestic theaters, defeated "Wild Robots", which led in all predictions, and won the Oscar.
In the Best International Film category, I Am Still Here defeated award season favorite Emilia Perez, becoming the first Brazilian film to win the award. Emilia Perez, which had previously led the nominations with 13 nominations, only won Best Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldana) and Best Original Song.
"Only Home", which focuses on the daily life of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, won the Best Documentary Feature Award. Palestinian social activist Basil Adela said in his acceptance speech, "I just became a father two months ago. I hope my daughter will not repeat the life of my generation and live under the flames of war." Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who worked with him to complete the film, said, "Can't you see? Our destinies are intertwined. Only when Palestinians are liberated can Israelis usher in true freedom."
This year's Oscars also set new records. Paul Tazewell won the Best Costume Design Award for "Wicked," becoming the first black man in history to win the award. When accepting the award, Zoe Saldana emphasized that she was the first Dominican to win an Oscar.
The ceremony that night opened with a group of Los Angeles city silhouettes from movies, paying tribute to the movie city that was hit hard by wildfires not long ago. After Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, two witches from "Wicked," sang songs such as "Over the Rainbow," the host Conan O'Brien, who crawled out of Demi Moore's body from "Perfect Matter," appeared on stage to open the ceremony. In the subsequent interlude, Conan O'Brien also showed his funny nature, and even shouted to the Chinese audience in pidgin Mandarin: "I owe a lot of debts, please let me act in more of your movies, please."
Although the US political arena has been turbulent recently with Trump's second term in the White House, and although host Conan O'Brien did not directly make fun of the president, he still sighed and appreciated the "powerful Russia" after "Anola" won two Oscars. In addition, Daryl Hannah, the actor of "Kill Bill", who served as the Best Editing Award presenter, first expressed his tribute to Ukraine when he took the stage. Guy Pearce, who was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Award, still wore a brooch supporting Palestine - since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he has insisted on wearing this brooch every time he attends important occasions.
[List of winners of the 97th Academy Awards]
Best Film: Anora
Best Director: Sean Baker, "Anora"
Best Actor: Adrien Brody, "Brutalist"
Best Actress: Mickey Madison, Anora
Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, "True Misery"
Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldana, Emilia Perez
Best International Film: I'm Still Here
Best documentary feature: "My Only Home"
Best Animated Feature Film: "Life of Cats"
Best Original Screenplay: Sean Baker, "Anora"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Peter Straughan, "The Conclave"
Best Cinematography: Noel Crowley, "Brutalist"
Best Editing: Sean Baker, "Anora"
Best Visual Effects: Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Reece Salkham, Gerd Neizer, "Dune 2"
Best Sound: Richard King, Doug Hemphill, Ron Bartlett, Gareth John, "Dune 2"
Best Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Lee Sanders, "Wicked"
Best Costume Design: Paul Tazewell, "Wicked"
Best Makeup and Hair Design: Marilyn Scaselli, Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stephanie Giang, "Something Substantial"
Best Original Score: Daniel Bramberg, "Brutalist"
Best Original Song: "El Mal" by Clement Ducor, Camille, Jacques Audiard, "Emilia Perez"
Best Live-Action Short Film: I Am Not a Robot
Best Animated Short Film: "In the Shadow of the Cypresses"
Best Documentary Short: "She's the First Female Member of the New York Philharmonic"
