Over the past decade, the Academy has made active strides to broaden its horizons, its group of voters, and its audience. This year, many of those efforts paid off, as the show netted some of the highest viewership it has in years and further pushed the envelope in terms of what is viewed as Academy Award-worthy material.
The gruesome body-horror film, The Substance, was nominated for Best Picture. Flow, an independently made animated film was not only nominated for Best Animated Film but also beat out blockbuster juggernauts like Disney’s own Inside Out 2. And perhaps most indicative of all, Sean Baker’s independent film, Anora, ultimately won Best Picture.
Anora Gets Her Happy Ending
Across the Oscar season, Anora seemed like a stealth contender, considering that it was the Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival. However, more than ever before, this year’s Oscar race demonstrated just how quickly the tides of public opinion can turn against a film in the age of social media. Films that were once festival darlings, such as Emilia Pérez, could very quickly become objects of scorn. However, despite stiff competition from Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist—which many saw as its primary competitor (another independent film, for what it’s worth)—Anora emerged victorious.
Baker’s tale of an erotic dancer who elopes with the son of a Russian oligarch—unusually explicit for a Best Picture winner—was made for just $6 million but went home with five big awards, including four for its scrappy indie director.
Evening the Playing Field
Over the past several years, an increasing number of independently made films have begun to take home the Best Picture trophy, such as Everything Everywhere All at Once, CODA, and Nomadland. However, for those who suggest that this shift is due to an aversion to or pretentiousness toward blockbuster films, it’s critical to remember that two of the most awarded films of last year were Barbie and Oppenheimer. Suffice it to say, the Academy has done a solid job of recalibrating and giving each film, regardless of how it was made, an equal shot at winning.
An Industry in Recovery
For a film industry transformed by streaming and humbled by economic turmoil, Baker and Anora epitomized cinematic purity. On the campaign trail, Baker called for a return to the 90-day exclusive theatrical release window.
“Where did we fall in love with the movies? At the movie theater,” Baker said Sunday, accepting the award for best director. “Filmmakers, keep making films for the big screen.”
In total, Baker won four different Oscars across the evening thanks to his multi-faceted approach to filmmaking (Picture, Directing, Editing, and Screenplay). This means that Baker is now tied with none other than Walt Disney, who won four Oscars for different films in 1954. That Baker and Disney share this record is even more ironic given how unexpectedly intertwined their careers have been.
Disney Dethroned
Whereas Walt Disney’s four wins in a single night served to further cement his legacy as an unequivocally massive voice in blockbuster animation and filmmaking, Baker’s four wins look to cement him as a modern auteur and champion for the possibilities of independent cinema. It’s incredibly fitting that on the same night Baker was recognized, Disney’s latest animated blockbuster was usurped by an independently made animated film.
