The wide open race to the 2025 Oscars culminated in an evening full of surprises and interesting takeaways.
Ceremony largely steers clear of politics
One would have thought that Hollywood, long a bastion of free speech where A-listers have spoken out against oppression, would have used the Oscars to launch a critique of the early days of US President Donald Trump’s new administration. But just as Trump’s victory stunned Democrats and has left them quietly scrambling to rebuild, so it has rendered Hollywood largely speechless. Disney, parent of show broadcaster ABC, recently settled a lawsuit with Trump. Corporate heads and billionaire owners of media outlets are scrambling to avoid the opprobrium of a notoriously volatile and vindictive president. As a result, the tone of the show was mostly light-hearted, without any overt politicising, bar a shout-out to Ukraine from presenter Daryl Hannah, first-time show host Conan O’Brien’s reference to Oscar-winning Anora star Mikey Madison’s title character standing up to a powerful Russian, and a direct plea for peace and coexistence from the Oscar-winning Palestinian and Israeli co-directors of best documentary feature No Other Land.
But the storytelling made their points loud and clear
While the speeches were by and large restricted to the work itself and thanking loved ones, the stories told by this year’s crop of contenders said a lot. While Trump’s war on diversity, equity and inclusion policies began long after the best picture Oscar nominees and winners were greenlit, it is hard to ignore how these films defiantly shine a light on the oppressed, the under-represented, and the other. They deftly navigated tales of resistance under tyranny (I’m Still Here, Dune: Part Two), objectification of women (The Substance), the horrors of institutional racism (Nickel Boys), representation of intersex (Conclave), trans people (Emilia Pérez) and outsiders (Wicked), the immigrant experience (The Brutalist), and raising awareness of the plight of sex workers (Anora).
Oscars producers handle wildfires tragedy with class
This could not have been easy to plan, but Academy CEO Bill Kramer, president Janet Yang, ceremony producer and showrunner Raj Kapoor, and ’Brien addressed the Los Angeles wildfires with aplomb. They acknowledged the collective trauma and heartbreak of an unparalleled local tragedy that befell LA County and will have affected many in the room, many who worked on the nominated films, and many more in the region who have nothing to do with the film industry. At the same time, the show avoided becoming a lamentation. The producers harnessed the spirit of defiance and resourcefulness that will carry the city forward in a way that spoke to the enduring love of a community that has given the city – and the world – so much.
The Academy spreads the love, sort of
After Oppenheimer rolled through the 96th awards, it was refreshing to see such a quality, wide field in contention for prizes on Sunday. In the end, Anora, distributed in North America by Neon, was the winner, taking top awards and the one big surprise of the night when Mikey Madison upset Demi Moore for lead actress. It was nonetheless an exciting night, where there were few foregone conclusions besides the supporting actor wins for Zoe Saldana and Kieran Culkin. Not every year will be like this, but the sheer breadth of quality on show, after a vintage season the year before, was a wonder to behold.
Cannes reclaims top spot
The Cannes Film Festival has reclaimed its spot as the place to launch an awards hopeful, after a period of dominance by Venice and a few years where the events were neck-and-neck. Boosted by the five for its Palme d’Or-winning Anora, the Croisette launched nine of this year’s 20 feature category winners – the festival’s highest number in at least 25 years. That was more than double the four from Venice, which set off The Brutalist and I’m Still Here.
Cannes films Anora, The Substance, Emilia Perez and Flow managed to sustain their acclaim from a May 2024 launch for over nine months to last night’s ceremony, which will play into the thinking of distributors and campaigners alike. While the jousting between the two festivals will continue, it is clear the spring-summer European festival axis is currently the best spot for a push for awards. Berlin launched one winner – documentary No Other Land – while not a single winner started at the major North American events of Sundance and Toronto, with Telluride title Conclave the sole prize-winner from the US festivals.
Go with the Flow
Amid the A-list celebs and big-money campaigns, it is heartening to see a triumph for Flow, the dialogue-free tale of a cat teaming up with other animals amid a great flood. The independently produced, sold (Charades) and distributed animation from Latvia’s Gints Zilbalodis saw off US studio titles with far greater budgets, including Disney’s Inside Out 2 and Universal’s The Wild Robot – and all without a spoken word.
Last year, the Academy’s animation branch separated from the short films branch; the 700-member animation branch is now solely focused on that format, which may have worked in Flow’s favour against studio films with greater visibility. It debuted in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard last year before heading straight to Annecy animation festival. Buzzy independent animations will look at that axis again for a push to awards success.
Meanwhile, No Other Land achieved its best documentary prize despite not having an official US distributor (the film’s limited screenings in the US have come through independent booker Michael Tuckman, via Cinetic Media). Directed by a collective of four Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers and sold internationally by Autlook Filmsales, the film has been in the headlines since German politicians criticised speeches made by two of its directors at last year’s Berlinale and has remained popular throughout with awards voters.
Focus and Universal’s eye for international
Universal Filmed Entertainment Group’s (UFEG) Focus Features and Universal Pictures converted nominations dominance into awards, turning 26 nods for films Universal Pictures International released outside the US on behalf of both studios into 10 wins. Films that Focus acquired internationally won eight Oscars – Anora, which Focus bought for select territories, won five on the night, while The Brutalist, which Focus acquired for all international, won three. Universal’s Wicked won two awards.
Conclave, which Focus distributed in the US only, won one Oscar, bringing UFEG’s overall haul on the night to 11. Neon distributed Anora in North America and A24 released The Brutalist in the US.
With the Academy’s increasingly international membership, UFEG’s Focus and Universal have developed a talent for identifying which titles work well with global viewers and how to market them. After last year’s Oppenheimer domination for Universal, the broader group enjoyed another night of success.
Elsewhere, Netflix may be relieved to have secured its two Emilia Perez wins following the Karla Sofia Gascon controversy, while Warner Bros took two prizes for Dune: Part Two, and Disney landed just one – Kieran Culkin’s supporting actor win in Jesse Eisenberg’s Searchlight Pictures film A Real Pain.
Several titles with diverse international distribution – Conclave, Flow, I’m Still Here, No Other Land, The Substance – picked up awards, indicating that an all-around deal is not a pre-requisite to Oscar success.
Oscar and Bafta pull apart in key categories
Following Oscar and Bafta Film Awards ceremonies a year ago where the US and UK film academies agreed on almost every feature category, this year saw a healthy amount of divergence.
Anora scooped both best picture and director at the Oscars, after Bafta had given those prizes respectively to Conclave and Brady Corbet for The Brutalist.
Although all four acting categories matched up (as is often the case), Oscar went in a different direction on original screenplay, awarding Anora’s Sean Baker another win after Bafta handed the prize to Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain.
In international feature (film not in the English language in Bafta speak), documentary feature and animation, the two academies diverged this year. At Oscar: I’m Still Here, No Other Land and Flow. At Bafta: Emilia Perez, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.
These three categories had totally matched for the past four years – including in 2023, when there was otherwise notable disparity between the outcomes of the Oscars and Bafta Film Awards (the year of Everything Everywhere All At Once and All Quiet On The Western Front).
The last time the two academies came up with different winners across all three of animation, documentary and the respective categories for foreign language film was 2017.
In craft, seven of the eight categories that are common to both sets of awards aligned this year – the outlier being editing, which saw wins at Oscar for Anora and at Bafta for Conclave. That level of overlap is not unusual.
In total, 12 of the 19 feature categories aligned their wins across Oscar and Bafta this year, which compares with 18 out of 19 concurring last year.
Although Bafta was less friendly to Anora than Ampas proved to be, it can be argued that Mikey Madison’s leading actress win at Bafta prefigured her Oscars triumph. (Bafta also awarded Anora its prize for casting – a category that does not exist at Oscar.)
Similarly, although it was Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl that won the Bafta for animation, that result showed that the presumed favourite – The Wild Robot – was vulnerable. So it proved to be, with an Oscar win for Flow.
While Ampas and Bafta disagreeing on director is relatively unusual (they’ve matched seven times out of 10 in the past decade), the two academies tend to struggle to agree on best picture/film. In the past decade, the academies gave their top prize to the same film only twice: with Oppenheimer and Nomadland.
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