Anora emerged as the big winner at the 97th Academy Awards, winning 5 Oscars- including the biggest one of the evening: Best Picture. Director Sean Baker sweeped in each category he was nominated for- including Best Director, Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay. With his 4 Oscar wins for the same movie, he has now created history for winning the most Academy Awards for the same film in one evening. (Also read: Oscars 2025: Anora wins Best Picture and 4 more awards at one of the most boring ceremonies in years)
Sean Baker makes Oscars history
Sean Baker is the first to win 4 Oscars for a single film. A close second came director Bong Joon Ho, who also won big for his film Parasite. Bong won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature. But the Oscar for Best International Feature goes to the country (which is South Korea in this case) and not to the filmmaker. Interestingly, both Parasite and Anora also won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in their respective years.
Upon winning Best Director, Baker advocated for theatrical releases of films in his speech. "Distributors, please focus first and foremost on the theatrical releases of your films. Parents, introduce your children to feature films in movie theaters and you will be molding the next generation of movie lovers and filmmakers. And for all of us, when we can please watch movies in a theater and let’s keep the great tradition of the moviegoing experience alive and well,” he said.
More Oscars history
Celebrated filmmaker Walt Disney had also won 4 Oscars in one evening back in 1953, but they were for four different films which were for Best Documentary Feature (The Living Desert), Best documentary short subject (The Alaskan Eskimo), Best cartoon short subject (Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom), and Best two-reel short subject (Bear Country).
{{/usCountry}}Celebrated filmmaker Walt Disney had also won 4 Oscars in one evening back in 1953, but they were for four different films which were for Best Documentary Feature (The Living Desert), Best documentary short subject (The Alaskan Eskimo), Best cartoon short subject (Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom), and Best two-reel short subject (Bear Country).
{{/usCountry}}At this year's ceremony, Mikey Madison clinched the Oscar for her titular performance in Anora. She bet out competition from Demi Moore who was considered the frontrunner in the category for The Substance (she won Golden Globes, Critics Choice and SAG), and Cynthia Erivo (for Wicked), Karla Sofia Gascon (for Emilia Perez), and Fernanda Torres (for I'm Still Here). This also made her the 9th youngest Best Actress winner in Oscars history at 25 years, 11 months, and 8 days. She is also the second actor born in the 90s to win the award, Jennifer Lawrence being the first.