Sean Baker Breaks an Oscar Record with His 4AnoraWins

Mar. 15, 2025

Sean Baker on March 2, 2025.Photo:Kevin Winter/Getty

Kevin Winter/Getty

Sean Baker is in rarefied air after winning fourAcademy Awardsat the Oscars 2025.

Anorawas nominated for six total awards this year, and Baker himself took home statuettes for Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Director and Best Picture; he wrote, directed, edited and produced the movie. He shared the Best Picture Oscar with his fellow producers, Alex Coco and Samantha Quan.

Anora’sMikey Madisonwas also won for Best Actress, while Yura Borisov was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

“We made this movie independently. If you’re trying to make independent films, please keep doing it. We need more,” Cox said when he accepted the award. “This is proof.”

“We made this with very little money, but all of our hearts to all of the dreamers and the young filmmakers out there,” Quan said. “Tell the stories you want to tell. Tell the stories that move you. I promise you you will never regret it.”

“I want to thank the Academy for recognizing a truly independent film,” Baker said after Coco and Quan. “This film was made with the blood, sweat and tears of incredible indie artists and… long live independent film!”

Disney, who died in 1966 at 65, famously won four awards at the1954 Oscarsfor Best Documentary Feature (The Living Desert), Best Documentary - Short Subject (The Alaskan Eskimo), Best Short Subject - Cartoon (Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom) and Best Short Subject - Two-Reel (Bear Country).

Sean Baker on March 2, 2025.Kevin Winter/Getty

When Baker took the stage to accept the Best Original Screenplay award from presenterAmy Poehler— his first award of the night — the filmmaker thanked the sex worker community for their help in informingAnora’s story. (The movie follows a sex worker in Brooklyn, New York whose whirlwind marriage to the young son of Russian oligarchs takes a turn for the worse when his parents discover their marriage.)

“They have shared their stories, they have shared their life experience with me over the years,” Baker said in that speech. “My deepest respect. Thank you. I share this with you.”

Sean Baker on March 2, 2025.Getty Images

Getty Images

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source: people.com