The 97th Academy Awards took place on Monday at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The annual gala was notable for many first-time Oscar winners and presenters. It marked the debut appearance as an Oscar presenter for Conan O'Brien, who entertained the audience with his customary wit. During his opening monologue, O'Brien humorously addressed the controversy surrounding Emilia Perez star Karla Sofia Gascon’s resurfaced social media posts, including one about diversity at the Oscars. The host's remarks drew laughter from the audience and even elicited a smile from Gascon, who held her hands apologetically.
In the opening announcement, Kieran Culkin gained his first career Oscar, winning best supporting actor for A Real Pain. Culkin's acceptance included a censored remark about fellow nominee Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice) and a humorous reference to a prior agreement with his wife regarding family expansion. He alluded to a promise between him and his wife of having more children contingent on his awards, with the number escalating from three for an Emmy to four for an Oscar.
With his win for The Brutalist, Adrien Brody remains the youngest actor to hold a Best Actor Oscar, a feat he achieved in 2003 for The Pianist. When he took the stage, he addressed the themes of his film, The Brutalist, speaking to "the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression, and of anti-Semitism and racism, and of othering.”
Mikey Madison won best actress for her performance in Anora—incidentally, her first Oscar. Zoe Saldana bagged her maiden Academy Award, a best supporting actress win for her role in the Spanish-language French production Emilia Perez. Upon receiving her award, Saldana emphasised her heritage and the significance of being "the first American of Dominican origin to win an Academy Award." Interestingly, she thanked the cast and crew of her film with the notable exception of Gascon.
Paul Tazewell made history, becoming "the first Black man to win the Best Costume Design Oscar" for Wicked. Peter Straughan won his maiden Oscar for best adapted screenplay for the religious thriller drama Conclave, based on Robert Harris's 2016 novel of the same name. Overall, Anora led the way with wins in five Oscar categories. Unlike the last two years, when Oppenheimer and Everything Everywhere All At Once dominated with wins in seven categories, the honours were more evenly shared between the nominees this time around. Sean Baker won in multiple categories for Anora: best director, best picture, best original screenplay, and best editor. Addressing the audience after accepting the Best Director Oscar award, Baker argued for keeping movie theatres alive, emphasising their cultural significance and the shared experience they provide, and asked for more big-screen experiences from filmmakers and theatrical releases from distributors.
Producer Baker and his wife Samantha Quan, as well as co-producer Alex Coco, accepted the Best Picture Oscar for Anora. Interestingly, this marked the second consecutive year where a married couple won best picture; in 2024, Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas did it for their work on Oppenheimer. Baker etched his name in the record books as he became the first individual to win four Oscars for the same film on the same day. While Walt Disney won four Academy Awards in 1954, they were in different categories. Similarly, Bong Joon-ho's Parasite won four Oscars, with the best international feature award going to the country, not the director.
Speaking of which, I’m Still Here became the first Brazilian film to win an Oscar in the best international feature category. On the other hand, Flow won best animated feature—a first for Latvia. Further, No Other Land won best documentary feature. During the In-Memoriam segment, Morgan Freeman delivered a moving tribute to Gene Hackman. Following its predecessor's success in 2022, Dune: Part Two won Oscars for best visual effects and best sound. Unfortunately for India, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Guneet Monga’s Anuja lost out on an award in the best live-action short category to the Dutch-language movie I'm Not a Robot.