Sean Baker wins original screenplay Oscar for 'Anora.' 'Conclave' wins adapted screenplay trophy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean Baker won the original screenpla y Oscar for “Anora,” a comedy-drama about a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, on Sunday at the 97th Academy Awards. Baker also directed, produced and edited the film starring Mikey Madison.

“This is crazy,” a smiling Baker said onstage.

Baker thanked his cast, telling them, “You elevated everything I wrote and made me look very good.”

Baker also won Oscars for best director and editing for “Anora.″ The film won best picture, and it's star, Madison, took home the best actress Academy Award. Previously, Baker won the Writers Guild of America award for “Anora.”

The film is the biggest success of Baker’s career. It had a $6 million budget and has earned over $40 million at the box officer.

The 54-year-old filmmaker has focused on portraying outcasts and characters from underrepresented subcultures and he singled them out onstage.

“I want to thank the sex worker community,” Baker said. “They have shared their stories, they have shared their life experience with me over the years. My deepest respect. I share this with you.”

“Anora” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, making Baker the first American director since Terrance Malick in 2011 to take the festival’s top prize.

“Anora” won over “A Real Pain,” “The Brutalist,” “The Substance” and “September 5.”

The adapted screenplay Oscar went to the papal drama “Conclave,” written by Peter Straughan. It was based on the book written by fellow Brit Robert Harris. The film stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini.

“I can’t tell you how much this means to me,” Straughan said backstage. “I started out as a playwright in the northeast of England. The first time I got an agent, she said, ‘Would you like to work in film?’ I said, ‘No, I just want to work in theater’ because it seemed like sort of alien. It’s surreal to me that I’m standing here now holding this.”

“Conclave” beat out the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” as well as “Emilia Pérez,” “Nickel Boys” and “Sing Sing.”

For more coverage of this year’s Academy Awards, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards

Peter Straughan accepts the award for best adapted screenplay for "Conclave" during the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Mikey Madison, left, embraces Sean Baker after he wins the award for best original screenplay for "Anora" during the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Peter Straughan, winner of the award for best adapted screenplay for "Conclave," poses in the press room at the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Sean Baker accepts the award for best original screenplay for "Anora" during the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Huge crowds flocked to the area outside Bangladesh’s national parliament building in the capital Wednesday to attend the funeral prayers for former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia , who died a day earlier at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness.

Waves of people from Dhaka and elsewhere had been streaming in toward the venue on Manik Mia Avenue, outside the parliament building, since early morning. Witnesses said many cried, calling Zia their “mother” as they arrived at the venue, with some traveling overnight from rural areas to join the prayers. In neighborhoods kilometers (miles) away, crowds also spilled into major streets to pray.

Zia’s funerals were expected to draw hundreds of thousands of her supporters and people from across the country while dignitaries from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal also arrived in Dhaka, with local media saying foreign envoys and representatives from 32 countries joined the funeral ceremony. She will be buried beside the grave of her husband, a former president who was assassinated in a military coup in 1981, in a park outside the parliament building later Wednesday.

Zia came to politics after her husband’s death and rose to prominence as an opposition leader during a nine-year movement against a former military dictator who was ousted in a mass uprising in 1990. Zia became prime minister for the first time in 1991, with a landslide victory in a democratically held national election as the country introduced parliamentary democracy. She was the leader of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party till her death.

Zia, who was known for having a calm demeanor, maintained a strong political rivalry with her archrival and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina, who heads the Bangladesh Awami League party, ruled the country for 15 years before she was ousted in 2024 in a mass uprising.

Zia's coffin, draped in Bangladesh’s national flag, was carried in a van escorted by security officials and party supporters from the hospital to her residence and then to the funeral venue.

Authorities said about 10,000 security officials including soldiers would be deployed around the venue to maintain order on Wednesday.

Bangladesh’s interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus announced a three-day mourning and declared Wednesday a public holiday to facilitate the funerals. Flags were kept at half-staff Wednesday across the country to show respect to Zia, the country’s first female prime minister who served two full terms and another brief term.

Zia’s eldest son, Tarique Rahman, is the acting head of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is the front-runner in the nation’s next elections in February.

Hasina, who has been in exile in India since Aug. 5, 2024, was sentenced to death in November on charges of crimes against humanity involving last year’s uprising.

FILE - Bangladesh's main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia looks upwards as she attends a rally of her supporters outside their party headquarters in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, March 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, File)

FILE - Khaleda Zia takes an oath of office as the prime minister in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Oct. 10, 2001. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman, File)

FILE - Bangladesh's former prime minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Khaleda Zia, center, leaves court after a hearing in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Aug. 10, 2016. (AP Photo, File)