9 of the best independent films to win Best Picture at the Oscars

WORDS Cassandra Dimitroff PHOTOGRAPHY via IMdb PUBLISHED Mon, 3 Mar 2025 - 3:30 pm

In case you missed it, today Sean Baker's Anora took home the Best Picture award at the 2025 Academy Awards ceremony (on top of Best Actress for Mikey Madison, Best Director, Best Editor and Best Original Screenplay). And for more than one of his speeches, Baker acknowledged the integral role of independent film and rallied audience members to continue to support it, both in film studios and in independent cinemas around the country.

"I want to thank the Academy for recognising a truly independent film. This film was made on the blood, sweat, and tears of incredible indie artists. Long live independent film!"

Anora wins Best Picture at the #Oscars

Sean Baker is the first person (and Letterboxd member) to win four Oscars for one film. pic.twitter.com/CIV4dJzkgP

— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) March 3, 2025

Anora's win is a milestone for the 'indies' and joins a growing list of independently produced films that have won the prestigious award. In case you're in need of a marathon this weekend, these are 9 of the best independent films that have won Best Picture at the Oscars.

1. Anora (winner in 2025)

Sean Baker's sharp, electric character study that follows a Brooklyn stripper navigating the chaos of love, power, and survival when she unexpectedly marries the son of a Russian oligarch.

2. Everything Everywhere All at Once (winner in 2023)

A24's maximalist, genre-bending odyssey through the multiverse, where a struggling laundromat owner must embrace the infinite versions of herself to save reality—and her family.

3. Nomadland (winner in 2020)

A quietly profound meditation on grief and resilience, following a woman who drifts through the American West in a van, forging a new life in the margins.

4. Moonlight (winner in 2016)

Yes – the winner in that infamous mix up. A luminous, deeply personal coming-of-age story that traces the life of a young Black man as he grapples with identity, love, and masculinity.

5. Birdman (winner in 2014)

A new-age indie classic, this is a surreal, darkly comedic dive into artistic obsession and ego, following a washed-up actor’s desperate attempt to reclaim his relevance on the Broadway stage.

6. 12 Years a Slave (winner in 2013)

The film that shot Lupita Nyongo to fame was this harrowing, unflinching depiction of one man’s brutal journey through slavery and his fight for freedom in pre-Civil War America.

7. The Hurt Locker (winner in 2009)

Katherine Bigelow's tense, adrenaline-fueled war thriller that immerses viewers in the high-stakes world of a bomb disposal unit in Iraq.

8. Slumdog Millionaire (winner in 2008)

The rags-to-riches fable that swept the Oscars in 2008 with their narrative infused with Bollywood energy, telling the story of a Mumbai street kid whose life experiences hold the key to winning a fortune.