Sean Baker has won best director at the Oscars for “Anora,” the story of a Brooklyn exotic dancer who marries the impetuous son of a Russian oligarch.

"Anora" director Sean Baker made history at the 2025 Oscars Sunday night. Baker broke the record for most competitive wins for the same film by a nominee in one show at the 97th Academy Awards, taking home four trophies.

LOS ANGELES — Last fall, Sean Baker was sitting in a Manhattan restaurant, talking about a poll. The survey, about sex in movies and television, showed that Gen Z moviegoers were mostly turned o ...

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Sean Baker accepts the award for best original screenplay for “Anora” during the Oscars on Sunday, March ...

Baker has a history of making ultra-low-budget, independent films, but has always seemingly come up short. Not this time. Baker's 'Anora', set in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn,

Baker’s four Oscars for “Anora” are validation of his sensitive portrayals of people on the margins who always seem to come up short.

By winning the Oscars for director, original screenplay, film editing and best picture (as a producer), he tied the record for most Oscars won by an individual in one year.

Sean Baker won Academy Awards on Sunday night for writing, editing and directing his film Anora, a Cinderella story set in Brooklyn's Russian emigre communities of Brighton Beach and Coney Island. By the end of the night, the film's star Mikey Madison had collected a best lead actress award and Anora took home best picture.

Baker conceived of the film as being rooted in a home invasion scene. Madison gets her screams in — and some punches — when Garnik and Igor come calling. The goal is to round up Ani and Vanya so they can get the marriage annulled, but Vanya legs it out the front door, leaving his new bride to deal with the fallout.

If you didn't know Sean Baker's name before Sunday night, you definitely do now. The director made history at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday, becoming the first filmmaker to win four Oscars in one night for the same film.

A rags to riches tale for 2025, the film begins with Mikey Madison’s Anora, or Ani as she prefers to be called, working as a stripper at a Midtown Manhattan ... When Baker frames her face ...

Baker won the best director award for his film 'Anora' on Saturday, and took the opportunity to advocate for keeping the indie film genre alive. By Beatrice Verhoeven Deputy Awards Editor “Indie ...