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In the end, 2025's Oscars belonged to independent cinema and Sean Baker. A cult director with a taste for telling  stories about people on the margins of US society, his Palme d'Or winning film ' Anora ' walked away with five Oscars out of the six it was nominated for. Amazingly, a $6 million indie comedy drama about a Brooklyn lapdancer incurring the wrath of Russian oligarchs took Best Picture, beating the more conventional Vatican thriller ' Conclave ' and the epic immigrant tale ' The Brutalist '. Baker made Oscar history by personally taking home four Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing. And in the biggest surprise of the night, BAFTA winner Mikey Madison beat Demi Moore to Best Actress who had been strongly fancied to cap a remarkable career comeback in ' The Substance '. Naturally the significance of the Academy showering 'Anora' with five Oscars was not lost on Baker who ha...

2025's awards season will be remembered for being an unusually close race. Unlike the previous two years' contests which saw  'Everything, Everywhere, All At Once'  and  'Oppenheimer' dominate , there have been no runaway favourites with the exception of possibly the supporting actor and actress categories. As a result, predicting winners in this year's Oscars feels like an even more perilous parlour game. Nevertheless it is a parlour game, so let's not take it too seriously. Awards season has always been fluffy nonsense and rarely do the Oscars get every decision right. So let's just take a punt once again with some predictions - even if it is just for the craic. BEST PICTURE Awards season began with Sean Baker's comedy drama ' Anora ' slightly ahead of the pack, with the Cannes Film Festival's top prize,  the Palme d'Or  under its belt. Winning Cannes, though, is never a surefire indicator of success when it comes to the Academy...