The Academy Awards—colloquially known as  Oscars, are a landmark event for the film community every year. This year’s ceremony is no different, featuring Conan O’Brien hosting the show for the first time. The winners included Anora, The Brutalist, Emilia Perez, Conclave, Wicked, and Dune: Part Two. 

Anora came out of this year’s Oscars the most successful, receiving five awards, including Best Director, and the acclaimed Best Picture. The film’s director Sean Baker received four awards that night, tying him with Walt Disney as the person with the most awards won in a year. Emilia Perez entered the night with thirteen nominations, while Wicked and The Brutalist followed behind with ten each. 

Several new precedents were set with this year’s Oscars ceremony. Flow would become the first independent animated film to win an Oscar, with the added accolade of being the first Latvian film to win.

Paul Tazewell won Best Costume Design for his work on Wicked, making him the first black man to win in the category. “I am the first Black man to receive the Oscar design award,” he would tell the audience in his acceptance speech. “I’m so proud of this.”

Zoe Saldaña of Emilia Perez would become the first American of Dominican heritage to win an Oscar, and this year’s awards led to Brazil’s first win at the Academy Awards with I’m Still Here.

Karla Sofía Gascón would become the first transgender woman nominated in an acting category this year, receiving a Best Actress nomination for her role in Emilia Perez. 

This year’s Oscars introduced new changes outside of the awards themselves. Conan O’Brien, former host of “Late Night” and “The Tonight Show,” became host of the ceremonies for the first time this year.

The show also broke the long-held Oscars tradition of performing a medley of all the Best Song nominees by announcing that no nominated song would be performed at the show. 

The broadcast opened with performances by Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. The duo would finish their time on stage with “Defying Gravity.”

The show would introduce various Bond-themed music numbers, featuring Margaret Qualley, LISA, Doja Cat, and RAYE. The In Memoriam segment would honor film community members lost in the past year, including actor Gene Hackman, who’d died the week before. The ceremony also had a segment honoring Los Angeles firefighters for their work, in which several firefighters were welcomed on stage and thanked for their work. 

When this year’s awards stream on Hulu ended before the final awards announcement, it received negative responses. Throughout the show, Hulu viewers encountered several technical issues, and an apology was later issued. 

Mr. Catullo, who had watched around half of the nominated films, would say that the picked winners were generally good. He added, “A lot of the movies they picked were interesting movies but not ones that people loved.” Criticisms of this sort have been common for the Oscars over the years, with there being a belief that the Oscars prioritizes a certain type of film and does not necessarily choose nominations based on the individual merits of each film; that the Oscars are not films for the people.

This year’s show has seen notable changes to the format and introduced unique precedents—but it remains to be seen if the criticisms of its ability to represent its audience will change in the coming future.