Independent studios shine as Neon’s 'Anora' and A24’s 'The Brutalist' dominate Oscars 2025

The 97th Academy Awards celebrated the triumph of independent cinema as Neon’s Anora and A24’s The Brutalist led the night’s biggest wins. Anora, directed by Sean Baker, took home five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress for Mikey Madison.

The film follows an exotic dancer who unexpectedly marries the son of a Russian oligarch, earning critical acclaim despite its modest box office performance.

Madison’s Best Actress win marked an upset over industry veteran Demi Moore, who was widely expected to win for her role in The Substance. Adrien Brody also secured Best Actor for The Brutalist, A24’s period drama about a Hungarian-Jewish architect rebuilding his life after the Holocaust.

The success of these independent films came at the expense of big-budget blockbusters like Universal’s Wicked and Warner Bros’ Dune: Part Two, which were limited to technical category wins such as production design and visual effects.

"We always jump into these projects knowing we will have to compete with films that have budgets almost 100 times what we shot our film for," Baker told reporters. "When we're actually able to do that, get into the same room as films such as Wicked, it means we're doing something right."

Meanwhile, Latvia’s Flow, a dialogue-free animated film about animals uniting after a flood, won Best Animated Feature over Pixar’s Inside Out 2 and DreamWorks’ Wild Robot.

Netflix, despite leading in nominations, walked away with only three Oscars, including Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña in Emilia Pérez. Baker, in his acceptance speech, urged audiences to support independent films, saying, “Go to the cinema—especially to independent theaters. That’s where these stories come to life.”