Film awards: Sensational Anora 2025 Oscars triumph proves there is still hope for pure cinema

The cinematic sensation Anora stunned the world with multiple Academy Award triumphs.

With talks circulating more and more over the last decade or so on the over-reliance of tech and visual effects to make a good movie, last night’s 97th Academy Awards proved why Anora’s marvelous victory may mean more for cinema than you may think.

Film News Blitz’s Aidan Leo reviews the delightful Oscars successes of Anora and whether their triumphs could turn the tide back to what true filmmaking is supposed to be. 

Anora wins big at the 97th Academy Awards 

Winning the coveted gold-plated, solid bronze statuettes is just a dream and an unlikely one at that for most filmmakers, but Anora made it seem like it was just another Sunday evening for them. 

Taking top honours in all but one of the categories they were nominated in, is no small feat and should not be understated.

With triumphs in the categories for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing, the feature truly cemented itself in filmmaking lore.

The hours of hard work, dedication to the story, and little recognition in the earlier notable award ceremonies, prove just how special the win for the now prominent Sean Baker and his team is.

This marks a new dawn and the return of classic cinema.

What makes the wonderful Anora’s wins so special?

I felt taken aback witnessing the emphatic achievements of Anora yesterday evening.

It felt like a win for the cinema purists.

An immense part of my inner psyche was hopeful for a Mikey Madison win, despite such an integral and ingratiate performance Oscar favourite Demi Moore delivered for The Substance.

It did indeed turn out to be an evening of jubilation for Madison when she produced yet another shock, but well-deserved coveted Best Actress win. 

For her, Baker, and the Anora crew to experience such masterful successes on the night has me pondering on the meaning of it all going forward in the film industry. 

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The funny thing is, the very moment each award was being read out by Hollywood’s prominent figures, a part of me knew Anora would take the spoils.

My thought process quickly changed from hoping for their success to the belief that it was coming.

But why was this?

I was certainly and specifically hopeful for Madison as her performance was truly astounding and connected with me on an emotional level.

However, in that moment, coming to terms with the nature in which the feature was shot, edited, written, and performed was just a spectacular realisation. 

The moment in which ‘and the Oscar goes to’ was read out by When Harry Met Sally stars Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, it suddenly made sense for it to be Anora.  

This was a win for classic cinema lovers

Cinema has found itself down a precarious path over the last 10 to 15 years, whereby the nature of the ‘cinematic’ has seen the aim to make the appearance of a film strictly more visually appealing, with fast-paced editing techniques and fight sequences, filled with a bunch of aura moments and hype scenes.

As well as positioning characters on this ‘otherworldly’ spectrum.

Do not misunderstand me though, I am not a stickler for films needing to be a ‘certain way’.

I enjoy variance and mixing things up and I certainly am not intending to undervalue or understate the successes of these films or claim that there is no place for them. 

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There certainly is. 

But film to me is the beauty of dialogue, relatable characters and journeys, story arcs and plot developments, and the slow and drawn out poetry of scene construction.

Anora delivered on this tremendously well.

Yes, the adventures of Ani and Ivan had the sharp cuts and quick effervescent transitions suitable to the chaotic and high-spirited nature of youthful 20 to 25 year-olds.

But in addition to those deliberate moments, Baker truly delivered on allowing Madison to pour out her heart and bestow true unadulterated emotional depth that never felt overdone or ‘extra’, but rather felt pure and nurtured in the correct way.

We fell in love with movies at the movie theatre

Baker’s award-winning speech for Best Director was one to truly behold and to give further thought to. 

“Where did we fall in love with movies? At the movie theatre,” he proclaimed firmly.

It is important we bring back the joy, the collective pain, and reinvigorate feelings of joy we get watching films with one another at the movie theatre.

In a world filled with turmoil, suffering, and political disorder, it is important that we unite alongside our fellow strangers, acquaintances, and friends and families at the cinema again.

Let's make going to the cinema cool again.

A community of film lovers and enthusiasts.

Allow independent filmmaking to ascend

All of us gradually lost the attention span and interest in going to the cinema over the last 15 years.

We forgot about the enjoyable communal experiences that come with it due to the insurgence of streaming and constant short-form content absorption, and filmmaking having somewhat lost its way.

Baker alluded to all of this in his speech and to me, it felt like a personal battle-cry from him for all of us to rejoice and remember what makes lower-budget filmmaking so incredible and why creatives and nostalgia-filled confidants of film need to come out of the woodwork again. 

Madison’s win sees her join the top 10 youngest Academy Award winning actresses

Madison spoke in glowing terms of the triumphant Anora, commenting on the impact of her family, co-stars, Baker himself, the producers and production companies involved in her journey as Ani.

She mentioned how grateful she was to be nominated alongside such wonderful performers and of course, illustrated her appreciation and respect for the sex-worker community. 

“I grew up in Los Angeles but Hollywood always felt so far away from me.

“To be here standing in this room today is really incredible.

“I also just want to again recognise and honour the sex-worker community.

“I will continue to support and be an ally.

“All of the incredible people, the women that I had the privilege of meeting from that community, has been one of the highlights of this entire incredible experience.

“I also just want to recognise the thoughtful, intelligent, beautiful, breathtaking work of my fellow nominees.

“I am honoured to be recognised alongside all of you.

“This is all a dream come true.”

“Thank you so much Sean, I adore you. This is all because of you. Thank you.”

Madison joins the top 10 list of the youngest award winning actresses, coming in at ninth, winning the award at 25 years-old. 

2025 award season has been a glorious ride

All the nominees, filmmakers, producers, directors and the rest of the cast and crew of all the notable features recognised this year have handled all their shortcomings and triumphs at ceremonies with grace and respect for one another.

They have represented the entire film contingent from 2024 extremely well.

The 2025 award season was a noteworthy and successful showing of sportsmanship, love, togetherness, and joint deep affection for film in its purest form.

Bring back movie theatres.

Continue to support indie films.

Make cinema great again.

There’s hope for pure cinema after all.

Anora proved that. 

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