Kiera McGuire

Features Editor

This Sunday, March 2, the notorious highlight of entertainment award ceremonies, the Oscars, brought together film directors, actors, sound technicians, composers, animators and lovers of cinema. 

Gathering at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, film stars Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”), Sebastian Stan (“The Apprentice”), Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked”) and more convened for the first-ever Oscars ceremony that was jointly broadcast on streaming services and cable television. The decision to broadcast concurrently mirrors similar efforts by other awards ceremony telecasts to adapt to the increasing prevalence of streaming services.

Attendees started trickling onto the red carpet as early as 4 p.m. EST, although some outfits left much to be desired (looking at you, Jeremy Strong). However, Monica Barbaro’s (“A Complete Unknown”) silver and pink Dior dress and Colman Domingo’s (“Sing Sing”) red Valentino tuxedo were a mix of classy and stylish. Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”) wore a bright yellow suit, generating lots of conversation on social media.

Starting at 7 p.m. EST, first-time Oscars host Conan O’Brien opened the show with a monologue complete with quirks and jokes. The audience’s first glimpse of O’Brien involved a skit with Best Picture nominee “The Substance,” where he emerges from the back of Demi Moore’s character, a parody of a scene in the horror film. Among other things, O’Brien poked fun at Hollywood’s plastic surgery obsession, saying he “looks his age,” and performed a song and dance routine about him not wasting people’s time, a self-deprecating jab at his almost 20-minute-long monologue.

Out of the 23 awards presented, only two were given to “Emilia Pérez,” Netflix’s controversial film: Zoe Saldaña for Best Supporting Actress (making her the first person of Dominican descent to win an Oscar), and the musical number “El Mal” for Best Original Song. This news comes after the film’s star, Karla Sofía Gascón, received backlash for her derogatory tweets, as well as an overall poor reception of the film’s representation of the Mexican and LGBTQ community. Gascón attended the ceremony, but did not walk on the red carpet. 

Other trophies from the night included the Best Supporting Actor award, given to Kieran Culkin for his performance in “A Real Pain;” Best Costume Design award, which Paul Tazewell won for “Wicked;” the Best Live-Action Short Film award for Victoria Warmerdam and Trent’s film “I’m Not a Robot” and a double-win for “Dune: Part Two” in sound and visual effects. 

“The Brutalist,” a popular film of the 2025 award season, fell short of Best Picture, but did snag wins for cinematography, score and the Best Leading Actor award for Adrien Brody, whose 5-minute, 37-second monologue broke the Guinness World Record for longest Oscars acceptance speech. Chalamet, Domingo, Ralph Fiennes and Stan were also nominated for the Best Lead Actor award.

Five awards were given to Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which racked up the most wins of the night. Baker received four awards: “Original Screenplay,” “Film Editing,” “Best Director” and “Best Picture,” while leading actress Mikey Madison won in the Best Lead Actress category for her portrayal of the film’s protagonist, Ani. These wins came after it was confirmed that “Anora” did not have an intimacy coordinator during filming. 

A handful of filmmakers advocated for continued support for independent filmmaking. The production team for “Flow,” the Best Animated Feature Film winner (and first Latvian film to win an Academy Award), expressed hopes to “open the doors to independent animation.” Baker urged filmmakers to “keep making films for the big screen” after receiving his directing award.

During their acceptance speech for the Best Animated Short Film award, “In the Shadow of the Cypress” filmmakers Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi highlighted the current economic crisis and media censorship practices in their home country of Iran. “Just the fact that we managed to make this film under the extraordinary circumstances of our country is a miracle,” Molayemi said. “We’re going to dedicate our film and this precious award to all those who are still fighting in their inner and outer battles, heroically, and nobody knows about that. Especially to our fellow Iranians who are suffering.”

The filmmakers for the Best Documentary film, “No Other Land,” also urged viewers to pay attention to global conflict. “‘No Other Land’ reflects the harsh reality that we’ve [Palestinians] been enduring for decades,” Palestinian co-director Basel Adra said. Israeli co-director Yuval Abraham also shared his thoughts, saying, “We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger … We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law, but Basel is under military laws that destroy his life.”

At the awards, the Academy — while awarding controversial films and downplaying others — provided a global platform for political and social expression in a time of much-needed community.