Oscars Editorial: Celebrate Indies! But Don't Forget to Support Them

After the ceremony, four-time Academy Award-winner and Anora director Sean Baker was late to his own victory celebration because he had to go home to walk his favorite dog Bunsen (this pooch). This is hardly the behavior you'd expect from an Oscar winner on the biggest night of his life... But Baker is no ordinary Hollywood success story – he's the exception that proves the rules still need changing. The 97th Academy Awards ceremony was a massive triumph for independent cinema (final winners list here). Anora, with its modest budget of ~$6.5 million, took home five Oscars, including Best Picture. 25-year-old Mikey Madison, for whom Anora was her first leading role in a feature film, won the Oscar for Best Actress, while Sean Baker single-handedly claimed the awards for Original Screenplay, Film Editing, and Directing. But there's more. The monumental film The Brutalist also restored many viewers' faith in great American cinema and won three awards: Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and a second Oscar for its lead actor Adrien Brody. Flow, a small Latvian project made for just $3 million, won Best Animated Feature. Kieran Culkin from A Real Pain, which came from Sundance 2024, took Best Supporting Actor; […]

Mar 4, 2025 - 21:15

Oscars Editorial: Celebrate Indies! But Don't Forget to Support Them

After the ceremony, four-time Academy Award-winner and Anora director Sean Baker was late to his own victory celebration because he had to go home to walk his favorite dog Bunsen (this pooch). This is hardly the behavior you'd expect from an Oscar winner on the biggest night of his life... But Baker is no ordinary Hollywood success story – he's the exception that proves the rules still need changing. The 97th Academy Awards ceremony was a massive triumph for independent cinema (final winners list here). Anora, with its modest budget of ~$6.5 million, took home five Oscars, including Best Picture. 25-year-old Mikey Madison, for whom Anora was her first leading role in a feature film, won the Oscar for Best Actress, while Sean Baker single-handedly claimed the awards for Original Screenplay, Film Editing, and Directing. But there's more. // Continue Reading ›