Winners of the 97th Academy Awards

Now, here are the winners of the 97th Academy Awards.

This year's Oscars had 23 categories, and the biggest winner was Anora. It won Best Picture (which the award should have been for Wicked), Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. As I predicted, Wicked won Best Costume Design, and Dune: Part Two won Best Visual Effects. However, I didn't expect The Wild Robot to lose the Best Animated Feature award to the now-obvious contender, Flow. I enjoyed watching the ceremony.

Best Visual Effects

Dune: Part Two - Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, and Gerd Nefzer

Best Film Editing

Anora - Sean Baker

Best Costume Design

Wicked - Paul Tazewell

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

The Substance - Pierre-Oliver Persin, Stéphanie Guillon, and Marilyne Scarseli

Best Cinematography

The Brutalist - Lol Crawley

Best Production Design

Wicked - Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Best Sound

Dune: Part Two - Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett, and Doug Hemphill

Best Original Song

"El Mal" from Emilia Pérez - Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyrics by Clément Ducol, Camille, and Jacques Audiard

Best Original Score

The Brutalist - Daniel Blumberg

Best Animated Short Film

In the Shadow of the Cypress - Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi

Best Live-Action Short Film

I'm Not a Robot - Victoria Warmerdam and Trent

Best Documentary Short Film

The Only Girl in the Orchestra - Molly O'Brien and Lisa Remington

Best Documentary Feature Film

No Other Land - Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, and Yuval Abraham

Best International Feature Film

I'm Still Here (Brazil) in Portuguese - Directed by Walter Salles

Best Animated Feature Film

Flow - Gints Zilbalodis, Ron Dyens, Matiss Kaza, and Gregory Zalcman

Best Adapted Screenplay

Conclave - Peter Straughan; based on the novel by Robert Harris

Best Original Screenplay

Anora - Sean Baker

Best Supporting Actress

Zoe Saldana - Emilia Pérez as Rita Mora Castro

Best Supporting Actor

Kieran Culkin - A Real Pain as Benji Kaplan

Best Actress

Mikey Madison - Anora as Anora "Ani" Mikheeva

Best Actor

Adrien Brody - The Brutalist as László Tóth

Best Director

Sean Baker - Anora

Best Picture

Anora - Alex Cocos, Samantha Quan, and Sean Baker, producers

Honorary Awards

Quincy Jones

Juliet Taylor

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Richard Curtis

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In Memory of Gene Hackman (1930-2025)

Gene Hackman (1930-2025)

The actor Gene Hackman died in 2025. He was 95. The two-time Oscar-winning veteran actor was reportedly found dead in his home in New Mexico with his wife and dog. The cause of their deaths was unknown. An intense character actor with a storied career spanning five decades, he was best known for his subtle performances in movies like The French Connection and Unforgiven.

As a teenager, Hackman lied about his age to join the Marines, where he served for nearly five years. After the military, he lived and worked in New York and studied journalism and television production at the University of Illinois before deciding to relocate to California to fulfil his dream of acting. Hackman attended the Pasadena Playhouse in California, where he became friends with a young Dustin Hoffman. In 1963, he moved back to New York, where he appeared in off-Broadway productions and minor roles on television. His movie acting career began in the 1960s, starting with Lilith opposite Warren Beatty. Fascinated by his performance, Beatty cast him as his brother, Buck Barrow, in Bonnie & Clyde. It earned him his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in I Never Sang for My Father in 1971. It is the same year that Hackman played the gruff New York detective, Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, in director William Friedkin's The French Connection that cemented his status as a leading man. It won him an Oscar for Best Actor. He later reprised the role in The French Connection II in 1975. Hackman continued as a staple at the box office, appearing in films like The Poseidon Adventure, The Conversation, and Night Moves.

Aside from playing tough guys, Gene also had a knack for comedy in Young Frankenstein and villainy as Superman's archnemesis Lex Luthor in 1978's Superman: The Movie and its 1980 and 1987 sequels. He also enjoyed another successful decade in the 80s, especially for his role in Mississippi Burning, for which he earned another Best Actor Oscar nomination. In 1992, Hackman portrayed a violent sheriff, Bill Daggett, in Clint Eastwood's western Unforgiven, which earned him another Oscar, this time as Best Supporting Actor. Hackman also appeared in movies like Hoosiers, The Firm opposite Tom Cruise, The Quick and the Dead, Crimson Tide with Denzel Washington, Get Shorty with John Travolta, The Birdcage with Nathan Lane and Robin Williams, and Enemy of the State with Will Smith.

He continued to work in the early 2000s and attracted audiences with The Royal Tenenbaums. For the first and only time, he and former flatmate Dustin Hoffman appeared on screen together in Runaway Jury. His last film role was as Monroe Cole in Welcome to Mooseport in 2004, after which he retired from acting and settled into a quieter life in New Mexico. In 2002, Hackman accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award for his accomplishments in Hollywood.

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