Trustee’s Company Produces Top Oscar Winner, Anora

FilmNation Entertainment, the production company majority owned by Emerson Trustee Steve Samuels, LHD ’22, was behind this year’s top Oscar winner, Anora.

The film took home five of the six awards for which it was nominated on Sunday, March 2, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay (all for filmmaker Sean Baker), and Best Actress for Mikey Madison.

Anora tells the story of a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch. It is a rare example of a small budget film ($6 million) nearly sweeping at the Oscars.

Earlier in the awards season, Anora, winner of the Palme d’Or at its Cannes premiere, took home a Critics Choice Award for Best Picture; a Directors Guild of America Award; a BAFTA for Best Casting; Film Independent Spirit Awards for Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Lead Performance; and AFI’s Movie of the Year, among other awards.

On Sunday night, Conclave, also in FilmNation’s portfolio, won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay (Peter Straughn), based on Robert Harris’ 2016 novel of the same name, about the selection of a new pope.

FilmNation was co-founded by Samuels in 2008