Sean Baker wins best director for best picture ‘Anora’

US filmmaker Sean Baker accepts the award for Best Picture for 'Anora', flanked by cast and crew, onstage during the 97th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on 2 March, 2025.AFP

Sean Baker, whose career chronicling the lives of sex workers and marginalised communities has made him a leading light of the US indie movie scene, on Sunday won the Oscar for best director for his film ‘Anora’.

And, his film ‘Anora’, a tragicomic Cinderella story set in a murky modern world of New York strippers, Russian billionaires and incompetent gangsters, won the coveted Oscar for best picture.

Sean Baker, winner of the Best Film Editing for 'Anora', poses in the press room during the 97th Annual Oscars at Ovation Hollywood on 2 March, 2025 in Hollywood, California.
AFP

Winning best director with his first nomination, Baker fended off Brady Corbet (The Brutalist), James Mangold (A Complete Unknown), Jacques Audiard (Emilia Perez) and Coralie Fargeat (The Substance).

Balancing a nuanced portrayal of sex work with emotional heartbreak and crowd-pleasing farce, Sean Baker's film about a young escort marrying an oligarch's son seduced Academy Awards voters to claim the industry's top prize.

The movie with a paltry budget bested its nine competitors including stiff competition from ‘Conclave’ and ‘The Brutalist’ to take home the statuette.

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