A Celebration of Cinema: Memorable Moments From the 2025 Academy Awards
- Maggie Lipson
- Sep 22
- 8 min read
By Lisa Perini ‘26 (Reporter)
The Academy Awards are the grand finale of awards season. It’s the culmination of all the hard work of people in the film industry. It changes lives. It celebrates something as unifying as movies. It creates history. As a movie-lover with more opinions than I know what to do with, I love watching The Oscars and seeing whether most of the industry shares the same thoughts as I, a viewer.
I like the twist Conan O’Brien put on hosting The Oscars. He managed to be funny at times. With a flamboyant, over-the-top intro, he included a lot of cinema pop culture references, like a scene from The Substance, and had someone wearing a Deadpool suit. I feel like some of his jokes fell a tad flat, but he was still a great host. I thoroughly enjoyed the environment he created with all his quirks. I’m glad he’s hosting next year — it’ll certainly be fun to watch.
Favorite Moment: I’m Still Here winning Best International Feature Film [contains spoilers]
I am elated that Brazil’s I’m Still Here took home the Oscar for Best International Feature Film. If you have not yet watched I’m Still Here, you should get to it immediately. In a nutshell, I’m Still Here tells the true story of Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), a woman whose life gets thrown out of balance when her congressman husband suddenly disappears amid Brazil’s multi-decade Military Dictatorship. As someone who is Brazilian and whose family remembers know well what the dictatorship was like, I was incredibly moved by it. To be able to see the history of my parents’ home country shown on the big screen, in front of the whole world, was such an emotional experience for me. And seeing how a woman took a moment as dark as living under an extremist regime and facing the brunt of it, and became a human rights activist was truly inspiring.
I may be biased as a Brazilian, but I’m Still Here is a near-perfect film. It was beautifully written, drawing on who the Paiva family is as public figures and their significance in Brazil, while also making everyone feel so ‘real’. The dialogue was formal where it needed to be—reflecting the reality of resisting in this regime, but it was also fun and free, showing the true dynamics of a family beyond when tragedy is thrust upon them. I saw a lot of similarities to my Brazilian family within that as well. The acting was also impeccable. Fernanda Torres has always been a top-notch actress, so it’s no surprise that she was magnificent. But so was everyone else, which I was extremely impressed by. Not in the sense that I had low expectations for the rest of the cast, but a lot of the other core cast members are playing kids/teens, meaning a lot of really young actors, and I was unaware of how much they would blow me away as well. Eunice Paiva had five children who were all prominently featured in the film. They all had amazing chemistry with each other and Torres, while also having their shining moments away from their other siblings. Selton Mello, who plays Rubens Paiva, a congressman secretly working against this regime, captivated audiences in the little screen time he had. He was charming, fun, and dedicated, building an attachment with the audience that makes it hurt even more when he goes missing. But for me, the cherry on top of the actors was Fernanda Montenegro as older Eunice. She’s a huge name in Brazil and is also Fernanda Torres’ real-life mother (she’s incredible and worth looking into). She is only briefly in the movie and doesn’t say a single word, but she manages to hold so much power in her performance. It was moving in a way I can’t describe with words. You just have to see it.
I’m Still Here also stunningly recreated 70s Rio De Janeiro, encapsulating all the vibrance of Brazil even in such a moment of darkness. Director Walter Salles brings these beautiful landscapes to life in such a way that pulls you deeper into the story. He uses the camera not as a window into the lives of the Paiva family, but as a set of eyes, allowing you to feel like you’re there with them. The camera follows the actors in a way similar to how you follow along in a conversation, further building the screen-to-audience connection. All of this to say that I’m Still Here was incredibly deserving of this award. Torres’ performance made me feel the pain of Eunice Paiva, and Walter Salles’ direction completely immersed me in the story, making it an absolute must-watch.
Best Leading Actress: Mikey Madison
Throughout the 2025 awards season, it’s been a close three-way battle for who would win the Oscar for Best Leading Actress. With the three frontrunners being Mikey Madison (Anora), Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here), and Demi Moore (The Substance), it was a category with three extremely strong contenders, and the winner would have one hundred percent deserved it. Because of how strong all three major contenders were, some viewers were guaranteed to feel their favorite had been snubbed. Generally, our best indicator of the Oscars is the SAG awards, which Demi Moore ended up winning. However, there was no clear dominator of awards season this year for this category. Fernanda Torres took home the Golden Globe, and Mikey Madison won the BAFTA. So due to how evenly distributed the major awards were, the SAG awards were not as reliable of a sign. I had been hoping with all my might that Fernanda Torres would be the name read on that envelope, as she was the second-ever Brazilian woman nominated for an Oscar (the first being her mother, Fernanda Montenegro). Torres has recently been Brazil’s pride and joy, given all she has achieved and how much she’s put Brazil in the spotlight of the film world. Though I’m disappointed she lost, it’s not like the award went to someone completely undeserving. Mikey Madison was incredible. She was on multiple registers throughout the film: She was fun and flirty when she needed to be, but was also extremely calculated. She began the movie very carefree, and she slowly became more and more serious, as she realized she had gotten herself into much more than she signed up for. Her performance was incredibly captivating and you could see her personas shift on-screen throughout the film.
For those who are unfamiliar with Anora, it tells the story of a sex worker, Ani, who gets the chance to move up in the world by marrying the son of a Russian Oligarch. However, this fairytale is shattered when his parents get wind of their marriage and come to the United States to annul it. Madison, playing the titular character, wrapped the audience (as well as other characters) around her finger and took us on a wild ride. She was fabulous, conveying such a range of emotions, from the carefree-ness of someone realizing they’re moving up in the world to the rage of having others meddle in your life. She had her world turned upside down and then upside down again, but not in a way that took it back to the original world, in a way that caused even more of a mess. I was completely invested in Anora and am so glad it’s being recognized.
But my heart still ached for Demi and Fernanda. The Substance gave Demi Moore a complete career renaissance and finally put her in the spotlight as a serious, award-winning actress. She’s been acting since the 80s, and this movie was what made her win her first major acting award. It’s sad to see her run end like this. But I also understand the logic behind her not winning the Oscar. She was only in half of The Substance, alternating with Margaret Qualley (who didn’t get nominated), which somewhat hinders how much she ‘led’ the movie. There was also an elephant in the room when it came to Moore’s loss: The Substance paints men and the system they set up in society as a problem, and roughly two-thirds of the Academy are men. The Substance probably felt like a middle finger to a lot of Academy members (AKA the people in charge of the voting). It is likely that the older, male, academy members didn’t love being called out in such a way.
And there’s also Fernanda Torres, who has finally been put in the global spotlight. She’s been huge in Brazil for years, performing in popular sitcoms like Tapas e Beijos and Os Normais (translating to ‘Slaps and Kisses’ and ‘The Normals’, respectively). For an actress who doesn’t come from an English-speaking country, it’s already so hard to get nominated, let alone win something like an Oscar. To me, the honor rests in her nomination. Her getting nominated means that enough people saw the movie and are aware of this story, which is the whole point. The nomination meant that she moved people enough with her performance, which is the true prize. That said, I do really hope another one of her films gains international success, and she manages to win the Oscar at some point in the future, so she can take home an award that both she and her mother deserve.
However, not everyone was happy with Mikey Madison’s win. She’s faced scrutiny from both Torres’ and Moore’s fan bases, insisting she’s undeserving of it. I also happen to be on the Brazilian side of movie fans, and I saw a lot of hate there with people saying things like “Fernanda lost to a stripper” and essentially that she can’t act. I also saw a lot of Demi Moore fans upset over the loss, claiming it reflects the whole point of The Substance— an older woman being cast in the shadows for a younger one. I feel like we all get so wrapped up in our side that we forget to take in the big picture: All of these women killed it and have been celebrated for doing so.
Anora Sweep: A Win for Indie Cinema
Mikey Madison was not the only member of the Anora family to come out a winner. Sean Baker’s Anora won five of its six nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. For a movie that made such a magnificent impact, it was an incredibly small production. They did it all with six million dollars and 40 crew members, shooting mostly on location in Brighton Beach. This makes Anora a true independent film, and in the year of blockbusters like Gladiator II, Challengers, and Deadpool & Wolverine, it’s hard for a movie made on such a “shoestring” budget to make it far. Which also proves you can’t buy quality. I’m not even sure that director Sean Baker would have expected Anora to take the world by storm in the way it did. And that’s the beauty of it: the impact of the unexpected. In his speech after winning best director, Baker emphasized the importance of preserving the moviegoing experience while calling upon distributors to “focus first and foremost on the theatrical releases of films.” We fall in love with movies in the theater, and there’s nothing more unifying than being in a packed theater, collectively experiencing something for the first time. One of my fondest movie memories was the way everyone started cheering when Andrew Garfield appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home. However, the rise and convenience of streaming has made experiences like this one much less common. Independent theaters are shutting down more and more, and I desperately hope that we never reach the point of extinction. Baker’s call to action was exactly what the film community needs as a reminder to keep film alive and to build the next generation of movie lovers. I’ll definitely be making a point to go to my local movie theater more often (shoutout to the BMFI), and you should, too. Anora’s Oscar dominance represented a deviation from “blockbuster culture,” not that there’s anything wrong with blockbuster films. But Anora helped shed light on smaller productions and stories, which is what we all need—to hear more stories. I will not be surprised if we see more and more successful independent films in the coming years, not only due to the rise in popularity of independent studios like A24 and Neon (Anora’s studio), but because more people will begin to see the true value of these movies.
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