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 has toiled in the margins of indie cinema throughout his career.
Accepting the Best Picture award from 'When Harry Met Sally' stars Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, the New Jersey born filmmaker thanked Academy members for "recognising a truly independent film."
"This film was made on the blood, sweat and tears of incredible indie artists. Long live independent film."
Collecting the award for Best Director, he also showered praise on indie cinema icon Quentin Tarantino who had just handed him the statuette.
Lauding him for casting Mikey Madison in 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' as a member of Charles Manson's gang and bringing her to the movie industry's attention, Baker told Tarantino: "Quentin, if you didn't cast Mikey Madison in 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,' there'd be no 'Anora'.
"Thank you. Thank you for your incredible work."
A clearly stunned Madison described her victory in the Best Actress category as "surreal" and apologised for being nervous as she read her victory speech.
Thanking her family, she also made a point of saluting "the sex worker community."
"I will continue to support and be an ally."
If 'Anora's' success was a massive vote of confidence in independent film, it was reinforced by wins for 'The Brutalist,' 'A Real Pain' and 'Emilia Perez' in the other major categories.
Twenty two years after winning his first Best Actor Oscar for Roman Polanski's Holocaust movie 'The Pianist,' Adrien Brody picked up his second for playing another Jewish survivor of the war in Brady Corbet's 'The Brutalist'.
The Best Actor frontrunner edged out Timothee Chalamet who fought hard to win the statuette for his performance as Bob Dylan in James Mangold's 'A Complete Unknown'.
In doing so, he prevented Chalamet from taking his 22 year record of being the youngest actor to triumph in the category - Brody was 29 when he won for 'The Pianist'.
Eager to bask in the glory of his second Oscar win, Brody annoyed some people on social media for spitting out chewing gum after he was declared the winner, handing it to his partner Georgia Chapman, delivering a lengthy acceptance speech and even ordering the music urging him to bring his remarks to a close to be stopped.
"Acting is a very fragile profession," he declared in a speech that some people felt was too self-indulgent.
"It looks very glamorous and in certain moments it is but the one thing that I've gained having the privilege to come back here is to have some perspective.
"No matter where you are in your career, no matter what you've accomplished, it can all go away."
If Brody's acceptance speech irritated some people, Best Supporting Actor winner Kieran Culkin's speech gave some TV bosses a headache.
In a sweary acceptance speech, the star of 'A Real Pain' found the experience "a bit crazy" and dropped the F word as he paid tribute to his fellow nominee and 'Succession' co-star Jeremy Strong.
He went on to reveal that after winning the Emmy, his wife had promised him a fourth child if he ever won an Academy Award.
"No pressure but let's get cracking on those kids," he joked.
By way of contrast, Zoe Saldana delivered a more conventional acceptance speech after capturing the Best Supporting Actress prize for her performance as a lawyer in the musical 'Emilia Perez'.
"My grandmother came to this country in 1961," she noted in a speech delivered in a climate of anti-immigrant rhetoric during Donald Trump's Presidency.
"I am the proud child of immigrant parents of dreams and dignity and hard working hands and I am the first American of Dominican origin to win an Academy Award and I know I will not be the last."
It was one of two wins for Jacques Audiard's musical with the director taking the Best Original song prize for 'El Mal' alongside Clement Ducol and Camille Audiard.
During an odd acceptance speech, Camille suddenly burst into song which was met with confusion by some in the auditorium.
But despite these wins, there was no doubt that the Netflix backed movie's hopes of more gongs were blown off course by the scandal that erupted in recent weeks around the tweets of its Best Actress nominee Karla Sofia Gascon who had to withdraw from actively campaigning.
Audiard's dream of nabbing the Best International Feature award for France was dashed by Brazilian director Walter Salles' win for the acclaimed political thriller 'I'm Still Here' as Academy voters sought to spread the love across various categories.
'Conclave' picked up an award for Peter Straughan's Best Adapted Screenplay.
In addition to Brody's win, Lol Crawley's cinematography and Daniel Blumberg's musical score for 'The Brutalist' earned them statuettes.
Jon M Chu's first instalment of 'Wicked' captured Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.
Denis Villeneuve's 'Dune, Part II' won for Best Sound and Best Visual Effects.
Best Director nominee Coralie Fargeat may have been disappointed that Demi Moore failed to win Best Actress but there was the minor consolation of a win in the Best Make-Up and Hairstyling category.
If Mikey Madison's Best Actress triumph was the biggest shock of the night, there were minor surprises too in the Best Animated Feature and Best Documentary Feature categories.
Lithuanian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis' 'Flow,' a dialogue free animated feature about a cat, dog, lemur, capybara and secretarybird trying to survive a world that has succumbed to climate change catastrophe beat the likes of 'Inside Out 2,' 'Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl' and the strongly fancied 'The Wild Robot'.
'No Other Land,' a remarkable documentary feature from Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers criticising the occupation of the West Bank, also won.
The big loser of the night was James Mangold's 'A Complete Unknown' which was unable to convert any of the eight nominations it received into Oscar wins.
Robert Eggers' less fancied 'Nosferatu' also stumbled, failing to win any of its four nominations.
As for the ceremony itself, Conan O'Brien proved a witty host - delivering a killer quip at the expense of Donald Trump after 'Anora' won Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
Noting it seemed to be having a good night, he joked: "I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian".
There was also a pointed quip by him halfway through the ceremony to the celebrity showbiz beef at the SuperBowl between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
And in the monologue after a pre-filmed segment that saw him emerge out of the body of Demi Moore's character in 'The Substance,' there was a very smart joke at the expense of Karla Sofia Gascon.
"Little fact for you - 'Anora' uses the F word 479 times.
"That's three more than the record set by Karla Sofia Gascon's publicist."
Although another gag featuring Adam Sandler mocking the furore over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's attire during his clash in the White House with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance didn't quite work, though.
Following the recent fires that devastated parts of Los Angeles, there was a nicely judged tribute to the city featuring clips from movies set there like 'La La Land,' 'Rocky III,' 'Grand Canyon,' 'The Big Lebowski' and 'La Bamba'.
Morgan Freeman's tribute to his 'Unforgiven' co-star Gene Hackman during the In Memoriam section also worked well.
Ultimately, though, Oscars 2025 will be remembered as the night Sean Baker made history.
'Anora's triumph struck a huge blow for indie cinema and that surely is a good thing.
BEST PICTURE
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune Part II
Emilia Perez
I'm Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked
Winner: Anora
BEST DIRECTOR
Jacques Audiard (Emilia Perez)
Sean Baker (Anora)
Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)
Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
James Mangold (A Complete Unknown)
Winner: Sean Baker (Anora)
BEST ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)
Karla Sofia Gascon (Emilia Perez)
Mikey Madison (Anora)
Demi Moore (The Substance)
Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here)
Winner:Mikey Madison (Anora)
BEST ACTOR
Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)
Timothee Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)
Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)
Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)
Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice)
Winner: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Yura Borisov (Anora)
Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)
Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)
Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)
Winner: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown)
Ariana Grande (Wicked)
Felicity Jones (The Brutalist)
Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)
Zoe Saldana (Emilia Perez)
Winner: Zoe Saldana (Emilia Perez)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE
I'm Still Here (Walter Salles, Brazil)
The Girl With The Needle (Magnus Von Horn, Denmark)
Emilia Perez (Jacques Audiard, France)
The Seed of A Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoluf, Germany)
Flow (Gints Zilbalodis, Latvia)
Winner: I'm Still Here (Walter Salles, Brazil)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)
Inside Out 2 (Kelsey Mann)
Memoir of A Snail (Adam Elliot)
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham)
The Wild Robot (Chris Sanders)
Winner: Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Black Box Diaries (Shiori Ito)
No Other Land (Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor)
Porcelain War (Brendan Bellomo & Slava Leontyev)
Soundtrack To A Coup d'Etat (Johan Grimonprez)
Sugarcane (Julian Brave Noisecat & Emily Kassie)
Winner: No Other Land (Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Lol Crawley (The Brutalist)
Greg Fraser (Dune, Part II)
Paul Guilhaume (Emilia Perez)
Ed Lachman (Maria)
Jarin Blaschke (Nosferatu)
Winner: Lol Crawley (The Brutalist)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Sean Baker (Anora)
Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold (The Brutalist)
Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain)
Moritz Binder & Tim Fehlbaum (September 5)
Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
Winner: Sean Baker (Anora)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
James Mangold & Jay Cocks (A Complete Unknown)
Peter Straughan (Conclave)
Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain & Lea Mysius (Emilia Perez)
Ra'Mell Ross & Joslyn Barnes (Nickel Boys)
Greg Kwedar & Clint Bentley (Sing Sing)
Winner: Peter Straughan (Conclave)
BEST FILM EDITING
Anora
The Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Perez
Wicked
Winner: Anora
BEST SOUND
A Complete Unknown
Dune, Part II
Emilia Perez
Wicked
The Wild Robot
Winner: Dune, Part II
BEST ORIGINAL MUSICAL SCORE
Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist)
Volker Bertelmann (Conclave)
Clement Ducol & Camille (Emilia Perez)
John Powell & Stephen Schwartz (Wicked)
Kris Bowers (The Wild Robot)
Winner: Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist)
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
'El Mal' (Clement Ducol, Camille & Jacques Audiard - 'Emilia Perez')
'The Journey' (Diane Warren - 'The Six Triple Eight')
'Like A Bird' (Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada - 'Sing Sing')
'Mi Camino' (Clement Ducol & Camille - 'Emilia Perez')
'Never Too Late' (Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt & Bernie Taupin - 'Elton John: Never Too Late')
Winner: 'El Mal' (Clement Ducol, Camille & Jacques Audiard - 'Emilia Perez')
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alien: Romulus
Better Man
Dune, Part II
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Wicked
Winner: Dune, Part II
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune, Part II
Nosferatu
Wicked
Winner: Wicked
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Gladiator II
Nosferatu
Wicked
Winner: Wicked
BEST HAIRSTYLING AND MAKE -UP
A Different Man
Emilia Perez
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked
Winner: The Substance
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
A Lien
Anuja
I'm Not A Robot
The Last Ranger
The Man Who Could Not Stay Silent
Winner: I'm Not A Robot
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Death By Numbers
I Am Ready, Warden
Incident
Instruments of a Beating Heart
The Only Girl In The Orchestra
Winner: The Only Girl In The Orchestra
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Beautiful Men
In the Shadow of the Cypress
Magic Candles
Wander To Wonder
Yuck!
Winner: In the Shadow of the Cypress
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