97th Academy Award Winners

Anora wins five Oscars including Best Picture. Full winners list here:

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After months of speculation and predictions, it was finally announced last night that the winner of the 97th Academy Awards is “Anora”. Sean Baker‘s independent drama entered contention very early following its Cannes success, where it was awarded the Palme d’Or. Despite the whole season being largely unpredictable across multiple categories, it appears that perhaps “Anora” was always the film to beat, having won 5 awards last night, including the coveted Best Picture Oscar.

It somehow turned out to be a fairly straightforward evening, with 20 of the 23 predictions I made recently proving to be accurate, making it my best year on Gold Derby and on Awards Expert. Quite remarkable given how so many categories could have gone one way or the other, but I think the signs of a mini “Anora” sweep were there. In fact the only categories I did not predict correctly, were Editing, Live Action Short and Animated Short, with the shorts famously being difficult to predict.

Mikey Madison and Adrien Brody managed to see off stiff competition from Demi Moore and Timothee Chalamet respectively in the lead acting categories, while Zoe Saldana and Kieran Culkin, the latter delivering one of the night’s most memorable speeches, completed their seasonal sweeps.

There was three awards on the night for “The Brutalist”, and two awards for each for “Dune: Part Two”, “Emilia Perez” and “Wicked”. There was also a great underdog win in Animated Feature, where small Latvian indie flick “Flow” beat studio juggernaut “The Wild Robot”, and deservedly so.

Full list of winners at the 97th Academy Awards:

Best Picture

“Anora” | Neon | dir. Sean Baker – Winner
“The Brutalist” | A24 | dir. Brady Corbet
“A Complete Unknown” | Searchlight | dir. James Mangold
“Conclave” | Focus Features | dir. Edward Berger
“Dune: Part Two” | Warner Bros.| dir. Denis Villeneuve
“Emilia Perez” | Netflix | dir. Jacques Audiard
“I’m Still Here” | Sony Pictures Classics | dir. Walter Salles
“Nickel Boys” | Amazon MGM | dir. RaMell Ross
“The Substance” | Mubi | dir. Coralie Fargeat
“Wicked” | Universal | dir. Jon M. Chu

Director

Jacques Audiard “Emilia Perez”
Sean Baker “Anora” – Winner
Brady Corbet “The Brutalist”
Coralie Fargeat “The Substance”
James Mangold “A Complete Unknown”

Actor in a Leading Role

Adrien Brody “The Brutalist” – Winner
Timothee Chalamet “A Complete Unknown”
Colman Domingo “Sing Sing”
Ralph Fiennes “Conclave”
Sebastian Stan “The Apprentice”

Actress in a Leading Role

Cynthia Erivo “Wicked”
Karla Sofia Gascon “Emilia Perez”
Mikey Madison “Anora” – Winner
Demi Moore “The Substance”
Fernanda Torres “I’m Still Here”

Actor in a Supporting Role

Yura Borisov “Anora”
Kieran Culkin “A Real Pain” – Winner
Edward Norton “A Complete Unknown”
Guy Pearce “The Brutalist”
Jeremy Strong “The Apprentice”

Actress in a Supporting Role

Monica Barbaro “A Complete Unknown”
Ariana Grande “Wicked”
Felicity Jones “The Brutalist”
Isabella Rossellini “Conclave”
Zoe Saldana “Emilia Perez” – Winner

Original Screenplay

“Anora” (Sean Baker) – Winner
“The Brutalist” (Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold)
“A Real Pain” (Jesse Eisenberg)
“September 5” (Tim Fehlbaum, Moritz Binder)
“The Substance” (Coralie Fargeat)

Adapted Screenplay

“A Complete Unknown” (James Mangold, Jay Cocks)
“Conclave” (Peter Straughan) – Winner
“Emilia Perez” (Jacques Audiard)
“Nickel Boys” (RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes)
“Sing Sing” (Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar)

Animated Feature

“Flow”| Janus | dir. Gints Zilbalodis – Winner
“Inside Out 2” | Disney | dir. Kelsey Mann
“Memoir of a Snail” | IFC | dir. Adam Elliot
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” | Netflix | dir. Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham
“The Wild Robot” | Universal | dir. Chris Sanders

International Feature