"Anora," a gritty strip club Cinderella story lacking a fairy tale ending, was awarded Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday, marking a significant win for Sean Baker’s Brooklyn-set screwball farce.

In a year of unpredictable Oscar races, "Anora," the Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, emerged as the surprising frontrunner. Baker’s narrative follows an erotic dancer who elopes with the son of a Russian oligarch—an unusually explicit choice for a Best Picture winner. Made on a modest budget of $6 million, the film took home five major awards, including four for its determined indie director.

Oscar voters opted for "Anora" over blockbuster contenders like "Wicked" and "Dune: Part Two," making it one of the lowest-grossing Best Picture winners with just $16 million in ticket sales. This win continues the trend of indie films claiming the top prize, joining the ranks of recent winners like "Everything Everywhere All at Once," "CODA," and "Nomadland."

In an industry reshaped by streaming and challenged by economic uncertainty, Sean Baker and "Anora" represented a return to cinematic authenticity. During his campaign, Baker advocated for a revival of the 90-day exclusive theatrical release.

Other award winners

Other awards were distributed widely, with eight of the ten Best Picture nominees taking home at least one honor during a lively ceremony hosted by Conan O’Brien, which notably celebrated music. The acting awards went to Madison, Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin, and Zoe Saldaña.

Twenty-two years after winning Best Actor for "The Pianist," Brody secured the same Oscar again for his role as a Holocaust survivor in Brady Corbet’s "The Brutalist." His victory came over Timothée Chalamet, who had the opportunity to become the youngest Best Actor winner, a record previously held by Brody himself.

Madison won Best Actress for her breakout performance in "Anora," triumphing over the frontrunner, Demi Moore, for "The Substance." Both she and Baker, as they did at the Cannes Film Festival when "Anora" won the Palme d’Or, spoke about honoring the lives of sex workers.

Netflix’s struggling contender, "Emilia Pérez," which entered the ceremony as the leading nominee, managed to secure two awards—Best Song and Best Supporting Actress for Saldaña—despite a scandal involving offensive tweets from star Karla Sofía Gascón that hampered its prospects.

“I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hard-working hands,” Saldaña expressed. “I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last.”

An Expected Win and an Upset

The night’s first award went to Kieran Culkin for Best Supporting Actor. Culkin has had a smooth ride this season, collecting accolades for his performance alongside Jesse Eisenberg in “A Real Pain.” “I have no idea how I got here,” he remarked. “I’ve just been acting my whole life.”

The biggest upset came early in the Best Animated Feature category, where the wordless Latvian film “Flow” triumphed over DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot.” This win for “Flow,” an ecological parable about a cat in a flooded world, marked the first Oscar ever awarded to a Latvian film.

“Thank you to my cats and dogs,” director Gints Zilbalodis said while accepting the award.

Oscar and politics

Despite the historic nomination of Sebastian Stan for portraying a sitting U.S. president in “The Apprentice,” politics were largely absent from the Oscars for most of the evening. The president’s name was notably not mentioned during the nearly four-hour ceremony.

While there were several striking political moments throughout the show, the focus largely shifted to exploring the evolving role of movies in contemporary culture and celebrating Los Angeles’ resilience in the aftermath of the devastating wildfires in January.

In a notable win, “No Other Land,” a documentary addressing the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and created by a coalition of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, took home the award for Best Documentary. After struggling to secure a U.S. distributor, the filmmakers opted for self-distribution, ultimately grossing more than any other documentary nominee.

“Wicked” and “The Brutalist” Each Win Two Awards

The ceremony kicked off with a heartfelt tribute to Los Angeles by “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, honoring the city’s resilience after the devastating wildfires earlier this year. Grande performed “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” followed by Erivo’s rendition of Diana Ross’ “Home.” The duo then united for a powerful performance of “Defying Gravity” from their blockbuster film adaptation.

Later in the night, “Wicked,” the top box-office hit among the Best Picture nominees, secured awards for Production Design and Costume Design. Costume designer Paul Tazewell, who made history as the first Black man to win the costume design award, was met with a standing ovation as he expressed his pride, saying, “I’m so proud of this.”

The award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling went to “The Substance” for its striking creations of beauty and body horror. “Dune: Part Two” triumphed with wins for both Visual Effects and Sound, with its iconic sandworm becoming a recurring comedic element throughout the evening.

Brady Corbet’s sprawling postwar epic “The Brutalist,” filmed in VistaVision, took home awards for Cinematography, credited to Lol Crawley, and for its Score, composed by Daniel Blumberg. Meanwhile, the papal thriller “Conclave,” which some speculated might upset “Anora,” ended the night with just one award for Best Adapted Screenplay.