‘Anora’ wins in Best Picture, Best Director categories at 2025 Oscars

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Director Sean Baker takes the opportunity to talk about the importance of theatrical screenings as a 'communal experience' needed in a world that 'can feel very divided'

LOS ANGELES, US – Anora, the story of a sex worker who gets a chance at a new life when she marries a wealthy client on a whim, won the coveted Best Picture prize at the Academy Awards on Sunday.

The movie’s 25-year-old star, Mikey Madison, was named Best Actress. The film also won Best Director for Sean Baker.

Baker had been favored to win the directing award, having collected top honors from the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America, and the directing award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

The director used his acceptance speech to offer his support for the theatrical experience, especially independent theaters, which have been struggling since the pandemic.

“In a time in which the world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever,” said Baker. “It’s a communal experience, specifically, we don’t get at home.”

The filmmaker’s first breakout project was Tangerine, a comedy about a transgender sex worker in Los Angeles that was shot on an iPhone. His next film, The Florida Project, focused on the plight of families living in poverty near Walt Disney World and told the story of a single mother and the manager of a roadside motel who seek to protect a six-year-old girl’s innocence.

Baker’s next film, Red Rocket, follows a washed-up porn star to Texas. His most recent film, Anora, dubbed a “bawdy modern fable” by one reviewer, received a total of six nominations, including for best picture.

Also nominated in the directing category were Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, James Mangold for A Complete Unknown, Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez and Coralie Fargeat for The Substance.

The Best Picture category included The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys, The Substance, and Wicked.

Winners of the gold Oscar statuettes are chosen by the roughly 11,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. – Rappler.com