Brooklyn took center stage at the 2025 Academy Awards on Sunday night as “Anora,” which was based and filmed in southern Brooklyn, won five Oscars — including Best Picture.
The dramedy tells the story of a young Brighton Beach-based sex worker, Ani, who meets and falls in love with the son of a Russian oligarch while romping through Coney Island and luxuriating in a Mill Basin mansion.
“Anora” was nominated for six Academy Awards, and it won nearly all of them on Sunday as director Sean Baker accepted for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. Star Mikey Madison — who played Ani — took Best Leading Actress just moments before the film was awarded Best Picture.
In her winning speech, an awestruck Madison gave Brooklyn a shout-out.
“Thank you, Brighton Beach, for lending us your beautiful backdrop and incredible community,” she said.
Producer Alex Coco said during his speech that the film was made on a relatively small budget.
“We made this movie for $6 million, shooting on location in New York City with about 40 crew members,” he said. “They’re all back in New York — this is for you guys, thank you so much.”
The area’s real culture and history provided more than just a backdrop for the film. Baker and his friend and “Anora” actor Karren Karagulia — who moved to Brighton Beach from Armenia in 1990 — had been thinking about making a movie set in the Eastern European enclave for years, they told “The New Yorker” last fall.
Madison and the entire “Anora” cast reportedly moved to Brighton Beach for the entirety of filming, and Madison has talked at length in interviews about perfecting the character’s accent and halting Russian language skills — Ani, in the film, says she knows some Russian because her grandmother was a Russian immigrant.
The indie film shot on-location in southern Brooklyn, and features iconic locations like Tatiana Restaurant and Luna Park. The massive mansion Ani’s love interest, Vanya, stays in during his visit to New York is a real 14,000-square-foot home in Mill Basin.
In some scenes, characters visit the real-life Williams Candy shop in Coney Island. Baker even cast Coney Island local Billy O’Brien as the shop’s fictional owner.
Peter Agrapides, Williams’ real owner, told Brooklyn Paper on Monday that it felt “excellent” to see the film win so many awards.
He said he thought the team behind “Anora” was attracted to the store because it was a real, old-fashioned Brooklyn business.
“The store has been here since 1941, it’s famous as it is,” Agrapides said. “That’s why they liked the location so much and the authenticity of the candy shop, still the same from years ago.”
Being featured in “Anora” has already brought a lot of publicity and plenty of visitors to Williams Candy, he said, and he encouraged fans to come visit — and meet O’Brien, who will be working in the store’s parking lot — this summer.
“Because everyone asks for Billy,” Agrapides laughed. “Billy was asked to be in the movie, he’s like part of our family, he helps us out in the summer. People are asking for Billy all the time.”
