Best Picture and Best Director winner Sean Baker bemoans decline in the number of people going to the cinemas.
Anora, the story of a New York sex worker who gets a chance at a new life when she marries a wealthy Russian client on a whim, has won five top Academy Awards, including the coveted Best Picture.
The annual star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles, United States, on Sunday night also saw No Other Land, a documentary film about the plight of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, winning an Oscar.
Anora’s 25-year-old star, Mikey Madison, was named Best Actress, while the film also earned Best Director for Sean Baker and trophies for original screenplay and editing.
In his acceptance speech, Baker exhorted filmmakers to keep creating projects for the big screen, bemoaning the erosion of the theatregoing experience.
“In a time in which the world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever,” Baker said. “It’s a communal experience you simply don’t get at home. If we don’t reverse this trend, we’ll be losing a vital part of our culture. This is my battle cry.”
Anora was made for $6m, a tiny sum by Hollywood standards. It emerged as the winner in an unpredictable Oscars race that included papal thriller Conclave, Jewish immigrant story The Brutalist, and blockbuster musical Wicked.
“If you’re trying to make independent films, please keep doing it. We need more. This is proof,” Baker said.
Adrien Brody claimed his second Oscar, winning the Best Actor award for his role as a Jewish immigrant and architect who chases the American dream in The Brutalist. His first win came 22 years ago for The Pianist when he was 29.
Zoe Saldana was named Best Supporting Actress for her role as the fixer for a Mexican drug lord in Emilia Perez, a Spanish-language musical, while Kieran Culkin won the Best Supporting Actor award for the film, A Real Pain.
‘Ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians
No Other Land, which shows Palestinian activists fighting to protect their communities from demolition by Israeli forces, is a collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers.
The documentary follows activist Basel Adra as he risks arrest to document the destruction of his hometown at the southern edge of the occupied West Bank, which Israeli soldiers are tearing down to use as a military training zone. Adra’s pleas fall on deaf ears until he befriends a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him amplify his story.
“We made this film as Palestinians and Israelis because, together, our voices are stronger,” said Israeli journalist and filmmaker Yuval Abraham, who used his acceptance speech to call out his country’s government for what he called “the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people”. He also urged the Palestinian group Hamas to release all Israeli captives.
Adra, the Palestinian filmmaker, said the film reflects the harsh reality Palestinians have been enduring for decades.
“About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter [is] that she will not have to live the same life I am living now, always fearing settlers, violence, home demolitions and forcible displacements that my community is living and tasting every day under Israeli occupation,” he said, calling on the world to “take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”