Hosted by Conan O’Brien, this year’s Academy Awards was a spectacle that paid tribute to icons of filmmaking, especially in a location as influential as Los Angeles. During its first moments, the broadcast honored the city showing prominent film clips of the Griffith Observatory and Hollywood Hills among other landmarks. To start off the night, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande performed beautiful songs from “The Wizard of Oz”, “The Wiz” and “Wicked” showing there’s no place like home. Undoubtedly, the evening was about honoring what goes beyond the screen and the global impact of authentic storytelling. 

Though the Oscars ballot this awards season was possibly one of the most controversial in years as the French film “Emilia Pérez,” about a fictional Mexican transgender woman, led the night with 13 nominations. Unsurprisingly, after an embarrassing public campaign, the film walked away with only two Oscars: “Best Supporting Actress” for Zoe Saldaña and best original song for “El Mal.” While Saldaña’s win was inspiring, because she became the first Oscar winner of American-Dominican heritage, host Conan O’Brien did not miss his chance to hit back at the film with a joke about lead Karla Sofía Gascón’s racist and xenophobic tweets. Despite this blow, O’Brien stuck primarily to non-political jabs for the remainder of the show. Nonetheless, his self-deprecating humor was greatly needed at a ceremony often led by ego. In fact, seeing his perspective on Hollywood, including a bit expressing disdain at dying movie theater culture, placed O’Brien as a true appreciator of the craft and care of filmmaking. 

Sean Baker, creator of this year’s underdog sweep “Anora,” relayed the same message. The artist won “Best Original Screenplay,” “Best Editing,” “Best Directing” and “Best Picture.” In his speeches, he emphasized the importance of respecting the sex worker community that he has chosen to highlight in many of his films. However, his greatest cry was the last words of his final speech, “Long live independent film!” Notably, Baker crafted “Anora” on a minimal budget of six million dollars opting to use on location shooting, independent crews and rising stars. One of those stars, Mikey Madison, won “Best Actress” for her first Oscar nomination and used her platform to similarly show support for sex workers and increased authenticity in film. 

Highlighting global and alternative narratives was an important aspect of the ceremony. The independently animated “Flow” won “Best Animated Feature” clinching Latvia its first ever Oscar win and “In the Shadow of the Cypress” is now the fourth Oscar win for Iran. However, it is the award for “Best Documentary Feature” for “No Other Land,” a venture between Palestine and Israel, that proved Hollywood is finally prepared to express support for those suffering in the occupied territories. Moreover, each of these winners is slowly moving the Academy back to its roots of appraising profound and refreshing media. 

One award which did not appear to do so was Adrien Brody’s win for “Best Actor” for his role in “The Brutalist.” His campaign became riddled with the revelation that artificial intelligence was used to enhance his Hungarian accent and create architectural designs for his character. Per the film’s supposed message about not oppressing creative originality, its means of creation shows much the opposite. To many, Timothée Chalamet was a natural winner for his performance as Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.” Ironically, if Chalamet had won, he would have become the youngest best actor beating Brody’s record from 2003 for “The Pianist.” 

Overall, the 97th Academy Awards are continuing a recent streak of uplifting independent models of filmmaking since “Nomadland” and “CODA’s,” which were the 2021 and 2022 best picture winners. With “Anora” leading this year’s charge, it can only be hoped the prestigious ceremony multiplies its appreciation for independent artists and unique perspectives. In light of this year’s winners, it begs the question for the current value of big budget films especially regarding major losses and snubs for “A Complete Unknown,” “Dune: Part Two” and “Wicked.”