The award season is always a hot take. Since the beginning of the year, movie fans worldwide have made predictions about which artists and projects will be nominated for cinema’s biggest award.
With the history happening since 1929, thousands of controversies about the criteria, calculations, and methodologies voters use have already been questioned. And at the 2025 Oscars, it was no different.
In this edition, new narratives developed, especially the arc of the movie: Emilia Perez, with its poor reception by the public, and now, Anora, which, despite not being highlighted, was completely successful during the awards season.
After all, are awards shows disconnected from the public? Does popular opinion have any power?
How does Oscar voting work?
All the award decisions, from nominees to winners, are made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which comprises 9,905 directors, actors, screenwriters, producers, and participants from all technical aspects of the productions.
In this phase, a shortlist is released, with the films registered and those that could be nominated. Then, each member votes according to their professional area. For example, directors vote for the Best Director category, screenwriters vote for Best Screenplay, and so on.
In the Best Film category, everyone votes.
After the list of nominees is announced, all members can vote in all categories, simply choosing their favorite among the selections. Except for Best Film, for which the result is obtained through the average ranking of preference among the 10 nominated films, the movie that wins first place in at least 50% of the lists. If this result is not achieved by any film, the one that is best positioned in the ranking gets it.
First of all, to get a film (especially when produced by non-Americans or Europeans) to reach the Oscars, it requires a heavy financial investment in campaigns, such as appearances on major American programs, investment for the film to expand in international cinemas, presence at large events, contact with voters, etc. In addition to the quality of the film, it must be seen, and this requires money.
How was the award season?
With unbeatable engagement and presence on Brazilian networks, ‘I’m Still Here’ has established itself as the film with the best balance between critical and public approval. The Oscar nominations, shortly after Fernanda Torres‘s historic victory at the Golden Globes, further crowned the “World Cup” feeling.
But the Oscars‘ track record almost stopped the film’s fans from dreaming. Brazil had never had a production recognized by the award, and we still had one of the most serious losses of the award.
In 1999, Fernanda Montenegro lost the Best Actress category with the film Central do Brasil to Gwyneth Paltrow. Now, 26 years later, his daughter, Fernanda Torres, has the opportunity to compete in the category. The dispute seemed to be between the Brazilian and actress Demi Moore, but a competitor forgotten by the public emerged at the awards.
The film Anora emerged with a good reception from critics but, until then, without much attention at the awards and without much prominence among the public. In recent weeks, the film has emerged as a strong contender for the award season, and the Oscars have followed suit. Of the six nominations, the film won five statuettes, including the biggest award of the night, for Best Film, and Mikey Madison, just 25 years old, won the highly contested Best Actress category.
Presenting itself as the peak of Demi Moore’s long-lasting career, the film The Substance immediately fell in love with the public. The themes and criticisms were well accepted by viewers and critics, and Demi Moore managed, for the first time in 40 years of acting, to be respected and awarded for her work, as happened at this year’s Golden Globes. Despite expectations and predictions, the actress did not win the main statuettes.
And, despite the oblivion that Emilia Perez fell into, which only won two trophies out of thirteen nominations, we can say that the film still achieved prominence, despite the controversies. Since its release to the world, the film was not unanimously accepted, and, on the contrary, when seeing comments from critics and voters, we noticed the contrast with the opinions of the public, who did not receive the film well at all.
The film, which received the Cannes award in its first screening, received harsh criticism and serious accusations, such as reproducing xenophobia, racism, and cultural appropriation of the audience, in addition to cuts that went viral being criticized for the musical’s acting and songs.
One of the main criticisms of the film came from Mexicans themselves. The French production takes place in Mexico, but its cast is made up of Americans and Europeans. The controversy intensified when an interview with French director Jacques Audiard went viral on social media. In the video, Audiard states: “Spanish is a language of modest countries, of developing countries, of poor people and migrants.”
To make matters even worse among the public, Karla Sofía Gascón, the project’s main actress, gave an interview, taking a stand against the attacks that she and the film were receiving from Brazilians and claiming that Fernanda Torres’s team was supposedly creating stories to attack the film. With fervent fans, a series of tweets containing racism, xenophobia, and religious intolerance were found on the artist’s profile. The situation took on enormous proportions, and Gascón had to speak out and step away from the campaign so as not to affect the film’s results.
History: The Oscars as a showcase
Looking at the Academy’s history beyond the 2025 edition, it is possible to see the growth of awards dedicated to films with less popular appeal, which are more aligned with critics and considered more “academic.”. Older editions used to reward films that spoke in a more accessible way to the audience, but this pattern changed to give preference to more independent films with refined themes, focused on politics and social themes in general.
The journalist and master of cinema Kelly Ambrozzio, encouraged the award’s disconnection with spectators: “Many films are forgotten at the awards, films that are generally acclaimed by the public and are not nominated… In times of the internet, this becomes much more evident because the public can complain in some way.”
Despite the obvious disconnect, the feeling of recognition arising from the biggest award in the world of cinema still prevails. Who is passionate about cinema wouldn’t like to see the quality of national productions and the country’s stories being exposed and recognized throughout the world? Cinema, like the arts in general, is a way of crossing barriers imposed by territories and languages. The problem is that American awards, in general, do not consider it in the same way.
“I think the Oscar is a showcase. It highlights important issues, especially in international films, but it is not what defines quality. It takes the producer, director, cast, and the entire production to another level. Once you are nominated, you get a little star in your career; even if you don’t win, it has great value,” comments Kelly.
Actress Fernanda Torres defined the feeling of the desire to have her country’s cinema valued, using Brazilians as an example, as a way of wanting the world to see how rich their culture is and how there are facts and stories so interesting that the world has no idea.
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The article above was edited by Fernanda Miki Tsukase.
Translated by Julia Tortoriello
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