Best Video Rolls Out The Oscars Red Carpet

While the big winner of Sunday night’s Oscars at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood was the film Anora, the Sean Baker-written-directed-produced-and-edited film about a Brooklyn sex worker who meets and marries the son of a Russian oligarch, there were a host of winners here at home too: the attendees of Best Video’s Oscar viewing party. They got to dress up in their fancy clothes, enjoy a delicious spread of snacks, and cheer on (or not) the movie magic makers, creators, and stars of the best of last year’s films. 

This year’s Oscars event — the 97^th edition — has been heavily discussed for having no clear front runners for many top awards. Luckily, most movie fans are all too ready to make their own choices, filling out ballots and seeing who can choose the most winners in every category from Best Costume Design to Best Editing and the biggest of all, Best Picture. Best Video set up a makeshift red carpet for them along with silver streamers and movie-related decorations.

This was not Best Video’s first time holding this event, but it was my first time attending. For years I had my own Oscars party, a small one with family and occasionally a couple of friends. We always filled out our ballots and competed to see who could make the most correct choices. My oldest son Anthony, a proud cinephile, always won, though I will brag and say that his first year away at college I technically beat him for the first and only time, choosing 23 out of 26 categories correctly.

Anora ended up winning five awards, including Best Picture, Director, and Actress. Other stars of the evening included The Brutalist, which captured three awards, and Wicked and Dune: Part 2, each of which took home two.

Before those awards were announced, Best Video attendees were invited to fill out a ballot and enter it in a contest run by host Michael Donague, a member who hosts the venue’s movie trivia night as well as a charity-raising mystery movie night. A devout cinephile who previously managed a movie theater in New Orleans and now works as tech support for movie theaters, Donague had ​“facts and tidbits” about the films and their stars ready for the crowd during the commercial breaks. He was most excited about the surprises that might happen during the show this year and how ​“unclear” some of the winners of the big categories could be, though he did feel that Kierin Culkin was ​“an absolute lock” to win Best Supporting Actor for his role in A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg’s meditation on grief.

Best Video’s own team had a few opinions of their own. Raizine Bruton said she thought Zoe Saldaña would ​“definitely win” Best Supporting Actress for the musical Emilia Perez, arguing that her performance ​“lives up to the hype.” Julie Smith said she ​“really wanted” Demi Moore to win Best Actress for her role in the body horror film The Substance. Rob Harmon did not have one clear choice, but did note that he has always looked forward to the screenplay categories because those typically offered some of the ​“more offbeat wins.”

One of the highlights of the Hollywood show was the performance of first-time Oscars host Conan O’Brian. He elicited multiple outbursts of laughter from the crowd at the theater and the video store. And except for Anora​’s five awards (including Best Actress for Mikey Madison in the titular role) and Dune: Part 2​’s two awards for Best Sound and Best Visual Effects, the rest of the winners were quite varied. Back at Best Video, Donague kept everyone abreast of how many were in contention for winning and which categories gave the contestants the most difficulty (the documentaries). First place ended up winning a Best Video gift card. Even last place got a prize: a Little Mermaid VHS tape.

For my own ballot this year (which I did not put into contention for a prize), I decided to choose which films I wanted to win, not which ones I thought would win, which of course made me less successful. The only Best Picture I did not end up seeing in time was I’m Still Here, a Brazilian film which ended up winning Best Foreign Feature. And I did not get to see the documentaries or the animated shorts, which I used to be able to go see at the Criterion when it was still around in downtown New Haven. I was not the only one who noted that they had not been able to see some or many of the films nominated.

A major point of discussion in the room during the evening, mentioned by Sean Baker during his Best Director acceptance speech (see the video below for his comments) and elaborated on afterwards by Donague, was the ongoing loss of independent theaters in the U.S. as well as the need for those of us who love films to go to the existing theaters and continue to see films on the big screen. O’Brien performed a skit where he offered a ​“new film streaming experience” that was basically, yes, going to an actual theater. 

“I hope one day we will have a glorious independent movie theater in New Haven,” said Donague. ​“There’s an audience for it.”

This may also be why the response to Anora​’s multiple major wins was not lauded that much in the room: It seems that many people there had not seen it. A few of us did see it, but simply did not think it would win. That’s one of the beauties of being a movie fan: The opportunity to decipher and debate what a film is and isn’t to you with others who are interested in them too. And even if you were not necessarily a fan of Anora, its win heralded a big boost for the independent film industry. When accepting the Best Picture award, one of its producers, Alex Coco, noted that it was made for only $6 million with 40 crew members. 

“To all the dreamers: Tell the story you want to tell!” shouted producer Samantha Quan.

“Long live independent film!” added Baker.

And long live the places like Best Video that give you a chance to partake in them, share them, and celebrate them.

FYI: I chose 8 winners correctly, while my son Anthony chose 17. Maybe next year…