1 THE ANORA ANNIHILATION

Even though they were going neck and neck in the run up to the Oscars, Anora pulled off a coup, blindsiding favourite The Brutalist by winning three of the top four awards.

Director Sean Baker raced ahead of Brady Corbet to win Best Directing for the film that looks at the life of a young stripper (played by Mikey Madison) who finds herself in a state of chaos after getting involved in a relationship with a Russian oligarch’s son. The film also took home the biggest award — Best Picture — of the evening.

Sean Baker created a record by scoring four wins in the same night. He is the first person to win four Oscars for a single film. Walt Disney won four Oscars in 1953, but those were for four different films.

Perhaps the most surprising of Anora’s five trophy haul — Baker also won for Best Screenplay, while the film was awarded for its Editing — was Mikey Madison winning Best Actress, instead of Demi Moore who seemed to have it in the bag with The Substance.

While Madison won a BAFTA for her performance a few weeks ago, Moore — who has never won an Oscar — was considered the favourite for her audacious, shape-shifting act in The Substance, bagging everything from a Golden Globe to the Screen Actors Guild Award.

Moore’s snub came as a shock for most, with social media buzzing immediately after the Best Actress winner was announced. “My heart broke as much as Demi Moore’s did when she didn’t hear her name. This was her year for sure. Horror always getting unfairly treated,” wrote a user on X, while another summed it up as: “Demi Moore losing to Mikey Madison is basically the plot of The Substance.”

2 CONAN THE DESTROYER

Conan O’Brien, doing Oscar hosting duties for the first time, delivered an opening monologue which benefited from some chuckle-worthy one-liners and a few fun gags, but could have been way shorter. Taking over from fellow talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel, Conan called out everything from inflated Netflix subscription prices to the long running time of The Brutalist. Some of his most potent lines were:

— “A Complete Unknown, A Real Pain and Nosferatu... these are just some of the names I was called on the red carpet.”

— “What a year for the movie industry. Netflix leads all studios with an impressive 18 — count ’em, 18! — price increases.”

— “I loved The Brutalist. I didn’t want it to end. And luckily, it didn’t”.

— I’m Still Here is about a woman who forges ahead alone after her husband goes missing. When my wife saw it, she said it was the feel-good movie of the year.”

— “In the film Babygirl, Antonio Banderas plays a man who doesn’t know how to give his wife an orgasm. Antonio described it as the most challenging role of his career.”

Conan, obviously, had to address the elephant in the room — and that was Karla Sofia Gascon. The Emilia Perez actor, who has been in the eye of a storm over the last few months for her hate/racist tweets in the past and even more so for her controversial handling of its aftermath, was present in the room, when Conan went: “I loved Anora, I really did. Little fact for ya, Anora uses the F-word 479 times. That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofia Gascon’s publicist.” He also added: “Karla Sofia Gascon is here tonight. And Karla, if you are gonna tweet about the Oscars, my name is Jimmy Kimmel!” Cut to a stone-faced Gascon, nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, letting out a hint of a lopsided smile. Nothing more, nothing less.

3 ‘DESIGNING’ HISTORY

Paul Tazewell made Oscar history by becoming the first Black man to win for Best Costume Design. Prior to the Oscars, Tazewell, who won for his luminous and eye-catching work in Wicked, had swept the awards season, scooping up the BAFTA, Critics Choice and Costume Designers Guild trophies along the way.

He is the second Black person to win in that category overall — Ruth E. Carter made Oscar history when she won for her work on Black Panther. She again won a few years later for the film’s sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

In his speech, Tazewell acknowledged the historic moment, saying: “I am the first Black man to receive the costume design award… I am so proud of this.” He went on to thank the team for their “beautiful work”. He also thanked Wicked’s leading ladies, saying: “My Ozian muses, Cynthia and Ariana, I love you so much.” For Wicked, which won huge praise for its adaptation from stage to screen, he designed over a thousand costumes. His most iconic pieces were creating Glinda’s (played by Ariana Grande) bubble dress and Elphaba’s (Cynthia Erivo) black dress.

4 SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER

The directors of No Other Land — which deservedly won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature — used their time to call on the world “to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people”. Hailed as one of the bravest — not to mention most urgent — speeches in the history of Hollywood’s biggest night, directors Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor took the opportunity to make a robust plea for “a political solution” to the war in Gaza.

“We call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people,” said Adra, a Palestinian journalist, to resounding applause from the packed house at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. He added: “About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now.” Abraham, an Israeli journalist, noted that he and Adra live “unequal” lives.

No Other Land is significantly made by a collective of Israeli and Palestinian creatives, even as their people have been engaged in a bloody conflict with each other. “We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together, our voices are stronger,” said Abraham. “We see each other, the destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end, the Israeli hostages, brutally taken in the crime of October 7, which must be freed.”

Amid loud cheers from the audience, the team also pulled no punches, calling out the US on its own soil, particularly President Donald Trump. “The foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path (of peace). Why? Can’t you see that we are intertwined? There is another way. It’s not too late for life, for the living,” they hit out.

5 FROM THE HEART

Zoe Saldana, who won the Golden statuette for Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Perez, teared up in her acceptance speech, saying: “I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams, dignity and hardworking hands. I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award and I won’t be the last.”

But it was Adrien Brody, winning for The Brutalist, who delivered the most emotional speech of the evening. Stating that he wished for a “more inclusive world”, the actor, winning his second Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar more than 20 years after his first (for The Pianist), spoke about the fragility of a career in acting. “Acting is a fragile profession. It looks very glamorous, and in certain moments it is, but the one thing that I have 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 have accomplished, it can all go away. And I think what makes this night most special is the awareness of that and the gratitude I have to still do the work that I love.”

Just as Brody started to thank his team, the Academy began to play music to signal the end of his time. Brody politely told them to turn the music off. “I am wrapping up, please turn the music off,” Brody said, adding: “I have done this before. Thank you. It is not my first rodeo, but I will be brief.”

After thanking his parents for creating “a strong foundation of respect, kindness and spirit”, Brody said: “I am here once again to represent the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression, of antisemitism and racism and of othering,” said Brody. “I pray for a healthier and happier and more inclusive world. If the past can teach us anything, it’s to not let hate go unchecked,” he went on, ending with an impassioned plea to “rebuild the world together”.

6 TOP TRIBUTES

The evening witnessed some tributes, with varying degrees of success and impact. A tribute to the James Bond franchise was kicked off by an introduction from Halle Berry, who started in the 2002 Bond film Die Another Day, with The Substance actress Margaret Qualley kicking off a musical medley with a dance tribute to “Bond girls”. Thai singer and rapper Lisa, formerly of the K-pop group Blackpink, sang snippets of Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die, followed by Doja Cat with Diamonds Are Forever, originally performed by Shirley Bassey. British star Raye capped off the tribute with a rendition of Adele’s Skyfall.

Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg led a tribute to composer and producer Quincy Jones, who died last November, with Queen Latifah delivering a soulful rendition of Ease on Down the Road, one of the most famous tracks from The Wiz, a 1987 adaptation of The Wizard of Oz.

Holly legend Morgan Freeman introduced the ‘In Memoriam’ section with some stirring words for actor Gene Hackman who passed away recently. Saying that the film community had “lost a giant”, Freeman referred to Hackman as a “dear friend”, and noted that though the late actor often said he did not think about his legacy, Freeman hoped that people would remember Hackman “as someone who tried to do good work”.

The 97th Academy Awards also paid tribute to local heroes on Sunday evening, bringing out firefighters from the Palisades and Eaton fires for a spotlight moment of their own on Hollywood’s biggest night. Conan O’Brien welcomed 12 fire service members onto the Oscars stage in between awards, and invited three of them to have a turn at delivering some punchy one-liners in front of the star-studded audience. We aren’t sure about whether the jokes, given the tragedy that unfolded only a few weeks ago in which many people lost lives and homes, was necessary, but the presence of the firefighters deservedly brought the crowd at Dolby Theatre to their feet for a minute-long ovation.

The 97th Academy Awards is streaming on JioHotstar