At the 97th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday night, Hollywood A-listers had more on their minds than the Middle East, such as the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles and the recent death of Gene Hackman.

There were fewer symbols representing the Israel-Hamas conflict than at last year’s broadcast and on the red carpet, but some acceptance speeches this year featured mentions of the hostages still held in Gaza and of antisemitism.

Ramat Aviv resident and father of two Israeli kids, Quentin Tarantino, presented the award for Best Director for Anora – the big winner of the night – to Sean Baker. 

In addition to Best Director, it won Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Actress for newcomer Mikaela Madison Rosberg (Mikey). Rosberg plays a Brooklyn sex worker with a heart of gold who marries the son of an oligarch; the Oscars now love to reward this kind of character, whereas in the old days, they were called prostitutes.

Israeli superstar Gal Gadot, resplendent in a slinky red gown, presented an award for Best Visual Effects with her Snow White co-star, Rachel Zegler. Zegler has posted support for Palestine many times, and there have been rumors of discord between the two, but they were all smiles at the podium, and neither wore a symbol referencing the war.

GAL GADOT (right) and Rachel Zegler present the award for Best Visual Effects. (credit: Courtesy of A.M.P.A.S.© 2025)
GAL GADOT (right) and Rachel Zegler present the award for Best Visual Effects. (credit: Courtesy of A.M.P.A.S.© 2025)
Gadot also declined to wear the yellow-ribbon pin when presenting at the Golden Globes earlier this year. Gadot’s husband, Jaron Varsano, appeared to be wearing a pin representing the hostages on the red carpet last night.

Political pins 

There were many pins this year, but most, like the glittery one that Best Actor winner Adrien Brody wore, were likely apolitical fashion statements. Guy Pearce wore a white enamel dove that said, “Free Palestine.” Pearce was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Brutalist.

Last year, many pins given out by Artists4Ceasefire were seen on the red carpet. 

The Brigade, a group created by pro-Israel film industry professionals after October 7, released a statement last month condemning the Artist4Ceasefire pins, which are red and which depict a hand, saying, “That pin is no symbol of peace. It is the emblem of Jewish bloodshed,” since it was inspired by a photo of the bloody hands of a mob member who lynched two soldiers in the West Bank in 2000. 

It seems that someone must have listened, because while around a dozen Oscar attendees sported these red pins last year, this year, there didn’t seem to be any. 

Adrien Brody won a Best Actor Oscar in 2003 for playing a Holocaust victim in The Pianist, and in The Brutalist, he struck Oscar gold again, portraying a very different Holocaust survivor, one who comes to the US to work as an architect.

In his acceptance speech last night, he said, “I’m here once again to represent the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systemic oppression and of antisemitism and racism and of othering. 

“I believe that I pray for a healthier, happier, and more inclusive world. And I believe that if the past can teach us anything, it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked… Let’s fight for what’s right; let’s rebuild together.”

 The winner in the Best International Feature category was Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, about a family in Brazil during the military dictatorship in the ‘70s. 

I’m Still Here is a good film, but the real gem in this category was The Seed of the Sacred Fig (which opens in Israeli theaters on Thursday), by Mohammad Rasoulof, and the Academy voters missed their chance to reward it. 

It’s a political allegory highly critical of the Iranian government, about a government official whose wife and daughters get involved in the anti-hijab protests. Rasoulof faced threats from the Iranian government and had to leave Iran.

The film was submitted to the Oscars by Germany, since it has German producers. Oscar voters have often rewarded Asghar Farhadi, an Iranian the regime allowed to work there and abroad, whose films make only very mild, veiled (pun intended) criticisms of Islamic law and government corruption. 

But an Iranian film did go home with a prize: Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi’s In the Shadow of the Cypress, which won for Best Animated Short. The directors dedicated their award to Iranians fighting the regime.  

A number of Oscar-winning films and nominees this year portrayed Israel, Zionism, and Jewish identity in a positive light, including Emilia Perez, a key character who is a Ukrainian-born Israeli; The Brutalist, which takes place against the backdrop of the emergence of the State of Israel and has several characters who move there; A Real Pain, about Jewish cousins on a roots trip to Poland; and September 5, about how American sportscasters covered the Olympic massacre in 1972 by Palestinian terrorists. All these films have received wide critical acclaim.