For the past 97 years, the Academy Awards have been the foremost way to celebrate the best of films, acting, and production: both in Hollywood and beyond. This year, the awards were hosted by comedian Conan O'Brien and took place at the Dolby Theatre, as they have for the past 23 years.

Image Credit: Mirko Fabian from Pexels

Unlike previous years, the race for Best Picture this year was full of twists and turns. The crime-musical Emilia Perez was an early favourite with 13 nominations, but controversy regarding star Karla Sofía Gascón's racist tweets significantly disadvantaged the film's campaign, with only Zoe Saldaña's supporting actress role still gaining traction and critical acclaim.

Throughout the awards season thus far, The Brutalist and Conclave have both won equivalents to the Best Picture at other awards. However, with a tough race, the winner for the Academy Awards was far from a done deal.

This year's Oscars were undoubtedly the year of the independent film, with categories like Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay, and Makeup and Hairstyling being won by the movies The Brutalist, Conclave, and The Substance. Indie film Anora also won big and walked away the largest winner of the night, taking home Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Directing, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and even Best Picture!

However, it wasn't just the indie films that won big this year: two of this year's biggest blockbusters, Wicked (10 nominations) and Dune: Part Two (5 nominations), took home awards in categories such as Costume Design, Sound, and Production Design.

Image Credit: Timothy A. Gonsalves from Wikimedia Commons

Winners List

Listed below are all of the 2025 Academy Award nominees in each category, with the winners in bold:

Best Picture

A Complete Unknown

Wicked

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pèrez

The Substance

I'm Still Here

Anora

The Brutalist

Nickel Boys

Conclave

Directing

Sean Baker - Anora

Brady Corbet - The Brutalist

James Mangold - A Complete Unknown

Coralia Fargeat - The Substance

Jacques Audiard - Emilia Pérez

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Cynthia Erivo - Wicked

Karla Sofía Gascón - Emilia Pérez

Mikey Madison - Anora

Demi Moore - The Substance

Fernanda Torres - I'm Still Here

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Adrien Brody - The Brutalist

Timothée Chalamet - A Complete Unknown

Colman Domingo - Sing Sing

Ralph Fiennes - Conclave

Sebastian Stan - The Apprentice

Supporting Actor

Yura Borisov - Anora

Kieran Culkin - A Real Pain

Edward Norton - A Complete Unknown

Guy Pearce - The Brutalist

Jeremy Strong - The Apprentice

Supporting Actress

Monica Barbaro - A Complete Unknown

Ariana Grande - Wicked

Felicity Jones - The Brutalist

Isabella Rossellini - Conclave

Zoe Saldana - Emilia Pérez

Animated Feature Film

Flow

Inside Out 2

Memoir of a Snail

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

The Wild Robot

Animated Short

Beautiful Men

In the Shadow of the Cypress

Magic Candies

Wander to Wonder

Yuck!

Costume Design

Nosferatu

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Gladiator II

Wicked

Original Screenplay

Anora

The Brutalist

A Real Pain

September 5

The Substance

Adapted Screenplay

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Nickel Boys

Sing Sing

Makeup and Hairstyling

A Different Man

Emilia Pérez

Nosferatu

The Substance

Wicked

Film Editing

Anora

The Brutalist

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

Production Design

The Brutalist

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Nosferatu

Wicked

Original Song

El Mal - Emilia Pérez

The Journey - The Six Triple Eight

Like a Bird - Sing Sing

Mi Camino - Emilia Pérez

Never Too Late - Elton John: Never Too Late

Documentary Short

Death by Numbers

I Am Ready, Warden

Incident

Instruments of a Beating Heart

The Only Girl in the Orchestra

Documentary Feature

Black Box Diaries

No Other Land

Porcelain War

Soundtrack to a Coup D'Etat

Sugarcane

Sound

A Complete Unknown

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

The Wild Robot

Visual Effects

Alien: Romulus

Better Man

Dune: Part Two

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Wicked

Live Action Short Film

A Lien

Anuja

I'm Not a Robot

The Last Ranger

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

Cinematography

The Brutalist

Maria

Emilia Pérez

Dune: Part Two

Nosferatu

International Feature Film

I'm Still Here - Brazil

The Girl with the Needle - Denmark

Emilia Pérez - France

The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Germany

Flow - Latvia

Original Score

The Brutalist

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

The Wild Robot

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Conclusion

Overall, this year's Oscars were a mix of surefire wins like Kieran Culkin for Supporting Actor, and Zoe Saldaña for Supporting Actress. There were also surprise triumphs, such as Sean Baker winning all four awards he was nominated for! Hopefully, this next year in cinema is as exhilarating as the last year was.