Anora, my favorite film of the year, won big at the Oscars last night.
The 2025 Oscars are one of the only times in recent years that I have agreed with the best picture winner. Anora ended up winning six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture. I didn’t see it winning a bunch of awards, seeing as it was a very low-budget film without many major actors.
But I think the Oscars have proven that they still give awards out to independent-type films. In fact, during the speech, the film’s director, Sean Baker, said some great words about independent film and inspiring independent filmmakers across the nation to pursue their dreams. As an independent filmmaker myself, I found it inspiring.
It was cool to see a film win those awards that didn’t rely on a bunch of flashy effects or have a bunch of big actors in it. Sean Baker also won Best Editing in a Motion Picture award. This is something that was neat, given that he directed, wrote, and edited the film himself, and he ended up winning all those categories. He does all these jobs for all of his movies. This is something that I do as well, and a lot of independent filmmakers do to save money.
So, Anora won big in all the categories and needed to win to submit itself as the Oscars’ favorite film of that year. Conan O’Brien did a great job of hosting the Oscars, keeping it light with humor and not as political as it has been in recent years. I’m sure many people appreciate this, as having someone like Conan O’Brien host was something that we should see more of in the coming years. We will see if next year continues this trend.
