The 97th Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, just ended on 3rd March 2025 at the Los Angeles Dolby Theatre. Hollywood hosted a series of films this year that swept major awards in the Oscars and created a bold statement for independent filmmakers venturing into risky storytelling with their skills.
The 97th Academy Awards highlighted the risk-taking artistic cinema that challenged the big banner films of Hollywood. In the last few decades, big-budget studio productions have been overtaking the box office and award shows. However, this time, films like ‘Anora,’ The Brutalist,’ ‘The Substance,’ and more Indie films took home the major awards of the evening.
2025 Oscars Goes To Artistic Indie Films Of The Year
Here is the list of Academy Awards Indie films have taken over this Oscars.
- Sean Baker’s ‘Anora’ took home five Academy Awards for the Best Picture, the Best Director, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actress Award. Anora is a movie about an exotic dancer from Brooklyn who marries into an Oligarch family from Russia. Anora’s captivating and raw storytelling has won the hearts of critics and audiences alike. The protagonist played by Mikey Madison therefore won the Best Actress Awards for her role as and in ‘Anora.’
- Another indie film that took critics and audiences by surprise was Brady Corbet’s ‘The Brutalist.’ The film is based on the life of a Hungarian architect who is set to rebuild his life in America after World War II. The film won the Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Actor awards at the 97th Oscars. Adrien Brody shined through his role in The Brutalist as Laszlo Toth.
- Another actress who won the Best Supporting Actress role at the Academy Awards was Zoe Saldna for ‘Emilia Perez’ while for Supporting Actor role, Kieran Culkin for ‘A Real Pain.’
- ‘Flow’ won the Best Animated Feature film, and Edwards Berger’s ‘Conclave’ won the Best Adapted Screenplay for Peter Straughan.
With these wins, the Academy Awards are highlighting the growing influence and recognizing the impact of Indie films in the industry. A refreshing change for big banner films with massive budgets sweeping the Oscars in recent years.
2017 Saw the Rise of Indie Films in Oscars
Remember Barry Jenkin’s ‘Moonlight’ about how a young African boy find life-long guidance in a drug dealer, Juan. This film was the starting point of the Oscars recognizing independent films and their powerful social themes. This movie won the Best Picture award over the movie ‘La La Land,’ along with the Best Adaptive Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor awards.
Then, Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Parasite’ won Best Picture in 2020, Chloe Zhao’s ‘Nomadland’ in 2021, and Sian Heder’s ‘CODA’ in 2022. All these indie films paved the way for films like ‘Anora,’ The Substance,’ and ‘The Brutalist’ to win big at this year’s Oscars.
The resonating theme of these films made them stand out among critics and audiences as they deal with realistic themes like social divisions, social acceptance, immigration, and realistic aspirations. In a wave of VFX movies and sequel films, these films put forward themes that people want to see today, thus catapulting independent films’ popularity in the industry.
So, which indie films did you watch recently that impacted you and your understanding of the world? Share your thoughts with us.
