The Oscars brought a tumultuous 2025 awards season to a close, and Anora emerged victorious.
The ceremony, which ran longer than The Brutalist (with no intermission!), aired tributes to Los Angeles, James Bond and Quincy Jones. First-time host Conan O’Brien earned praise online and in the Dolby Theatre for his clever and timely bits during a show that shone a spotlight on filmmaking over celebrity — though celebrities were certainly present.
Here are the key takeaways from the ceremony.
We finally got to see the results of a bizarre campaign season
It’s not normal for an awards season to have this many shake-ups. Shutouts at the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards called Anora’s dominance into question, but it came back in full force, just as the Yahoo Best Picture Leaderboard predicted.
The film’s writer, director, editor and producer, Sean Baker, took home four trophies, tying Walt Disney’s record for most wins in a single night and becoming the first to win four awards for a single film — a huge victory for a scrappy independent filmmaker known for shooting films on iPhones and in secret in the backs of restaurants. Mikey Madison, the lead actress he recruited after seeing her supporting performance in a horror film, somewhat unexpectedly won Best Actress and brought the film’s total to five wins.
