The Oscars are a slightly archaic, often out-of-touch awards show to celebrate the film industry’s richest and most famous artists– except maybe not this year. Sure, there was plenty of glitz and glamour, as there always is, but this time, something felt different.
The biggest winner of the night—“Anora”—took home five awards on a budget of only six million dollars, a meager sum in the face of some of the other films it was up against. “Wicked” and “Dune Part 2” had staggering budgets of 145 million and 190 million, respectively. After “Oppenheimer’s” win for Best Picture last year, seeing an independent movie take the award was refreshing. Whenever smaller films make a big splash, it reminds audiences of how important films are in our lives. Their creators aren’t just ridiculously wealthy billionaires who can’t understand what life is like for the rest of us, but regular people who just have a love and passion for the craft.
Triple-threat auteur Sean Baker is a perfect example of this. He won Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director for “Anora,” and in his final speech for Best Picture, Baker highlighted the work of the indie artists behind the film.
“Anora” producer Alex Coco also reminded viewers at home that “If you’re trying to make independent films, keep doing it. We need more. This is proof,” in a rousing speech that can’t help but inspire up-and-coming filmmakers.
As well as production awards, Mikey Madison also took home the award for Best Actress for her performance as Ani in “Anora,” beating out popular choices like Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in “Wicked” and Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle in “The Substance.”
“Anora” wasn’t the only indie film recognized at the 97th Academy Awards, though. Independently made movie “The Brutalist” with a runtime of just under four hours, was awarded achievement in cinematography and score, and its actor Adrien Brody took home the Oscar for Best Actor. This was Brody’s second Oscar after his 2003 win for “The Pianist,” and his acceptance speech, clocking in at over 5 minutes, felt just as long as “The Brutalist” itself.
To the surprise of almost nobody, Kieran Culkin was awarded Best Supporting Actor for “A Real Pain,” another independent film written, directed by and starring Jesse Eisenberg. The Academy Award for Culkin marked his eighth award for this movie, and the actor used his acceptance speech to ask his wife for a fourth child.
There were also a few firsts for the Oscars this year, including Paul Tazewell for costume design in the movie “Wicked,” who is the first Black man to win the award. “Flow” also won Best Animated Feature, making it the first win for the country of Latvia at the Oscars.
In a world where nobody can agree on whether or not the Oscars are relevant to society, it does say something about the changing landscape of the film industry that so many smaller movies are winning big. Many people decide what to watch based on the Oscars, so by giving indie films recognition, there is a hope that people will tune in to watch some lesser-known flicks that are just as good—if not better—than what’s in the mainstream.
