Low-budget comedy Anora has triumphed at this year’s Oscars winning five Oscars, including best picture and best actress while Adrien Brody took home best actor.

Anora, which follows Mikey Madison’s sex worker who gets married to the son of a Russian oligarch, premiered at the Cannes film festival last year and has become the fourth Palme d’Or winner to be named best picture.

Creator Sean Baker also won for director, editing and original screenplay. He paid tribute to the sex worker community in his first speech of the night. “They have shared their stories, they have shared their life experiences over the years, my deepest respect, I share this with you,” he said. He has become the first person to ever win four Oscars for the same film in one night.

“Where did we fall in love with the movies?” he asked in his director speech. “At the movie theatre.” He went on to implore film-makers to “keep making films for the big screen” so we can preserve “a communal experience you simply don’t get at home”.

Twenty-five-year-old Madison, who beat out favourite Demi Moore for The Substance, called it “very surreal” in her speech. “I also just want to also recognise and honour the sex worker community,” she said. “I will continue to support and be an ally.”

Moore had been seen as the frontrunner after wins at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild awards. The Substance took home just one award for makeup and hairstyling.

Host Conan O’Brien joked about the film’s success throughout the night at this particular political moment. “I guess Americans are excited to see someone finally stand up to a powerful Russian,” he said to thunderous applause.

Papal election thriller Conclave, which was seen as Anora’s stiffest competition for best picture after winning big at the Baftas and the Screen Actors Guild awards, had to make do with just one Oscar for best adapted screenplay.

Adrien Brody won his second best actor Oscar for playing the lead of Brady Corbet’s postwar drama The Brutalist. Brody spoke about the “fragile profession” of acting and the new perspective he now has on his return to the stage. “It is the chance to begin again,” he added. When the music kicked in after he went over his time, he asked them to stop playing. “This is not my first rodeo!” he said. After calling out antisemitism and racism, he said: “I pray for a healthier, happier and more inclusive world.”

Brody had previously been the youngest best actor winner when he took home the award in 2003 for The Pianist. He beat out A Complete Unknown’s Timothée Chalamet, who had won at last weekend’s Screen Actors Guild awards.

The Brutalist also won for cinematography and original score for British composer Daniel Blumberg.

Earlier in the evening, Halle Berry kissed Brody on the red carpet to recreate the controversial moment onstage 22 years ago when he kissed her. “I had to pay him back,” she said. She later introduced a montage paying tribute to James Bond which preceded performances of 007 themes by Raye, Doja Cat and Lisa.

No Other Land, a film made by an Israel-Palestine collective about violence and displacement in the West Bank, won for documentary feature despite no official distribution in the US. Palestinian co-director Basel Adra spoke about how “serious actions” are needed to “stop the injustice and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people” while his Israeli partner Yuval Abraham said that there needs to be “national rights for both of our people” and taking aim at the US saying that “the foreign policy in this country is helping to block his path”. He added: “Can’t you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe if Basel’s people are truly free and safe.”

The most-nominated film of the night was Netflix’s crime musical Emilia Pérez which had 13 nods, the most ever for a film not in the English language. It picked up two awards for original song and supporting actress for first-time nominee Zoe Saldaña who beat out Isabella Rossellini and Ariana Grande. “I am floored by this honour,” she said in a tearful speech after winning the majority of awards this season. She added: “I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hard-working hands.”

The film’s lead star Karla Sofia Gascón, the first ever openly transgender acting nominee, had found herself in the centre of an online storm after bigoted tweets were resurfaced and she was removed from the campaign trail. She skipped the red carpet tonight but was present at the ceremony. For the first time, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos was asked about the controversy and why there was no official statement. “Everything we’ve poured into this is about the film, always about the film, we just stuck to that,” he said.

First-time host and “four-time Oscar viewer” O’Brien joked that Anora “uses the F-word 479 times, that’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofia Gascón’s publicist”. He made a further joke about Gascón, saying: “If you are going to tweet about the Oscars tonight, my name is Jimmy Kimmel.”

Emilia Pérez lost out on the Oscar for international feature to Brazilian fact-based drama I’m Still Here. It marks the country’s first win in this category. Director Walter Salles had previously been nominated for 1998’s Central Station.

Kieran Culkin continued his awards season sweep, named best supporting actor for his role in comedy drama A Real Pain. “I have no idea how I’ve got here, I’ve just been acting my entire life,” he said. He was up against competition including Edward Norton and his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong.

Low-budget breakout Flow beat out blockbusters Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot to win best animated feature, becoming the first Latvian film to win an Oscar. “We are all in the same boat and must overcome our differences to find ways to work together,” said the director, Gints Zilbalodis, in his speech.

Paul Tazewell also became the first Black man to win an Oscar for costume design for his work on Wicked. The musical also won for production design while Dune: Part Two picked up awards for sound and visual effects.

Mick Jagger received a standing ovation as he came on stage to present the award for best original song. “Bob [Dylan] didn’t want to do it because he said obviously the best songs this year were in A Complete Unknown,” he joked. Diane Warren lost out on the award for the 16th time.

Morgan Freeman also paid tribute to the late Gene Hackman, his co-star in Unforgiven and Under Suspicion. “This week, this community lost a giant and I lost a dear friend,” he said before the annual in memoriam section included stars such as Maggie Smith, Gena Rowlands, Joan Plowright, Kris Kristofferson, Donald Sutherland and David Lynch. Later in the night, Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey presented a separate tribute to Quincy Jones. “When we talk about Black excellence, we’re talking about Quincy,” Goldberg said.

The ceremony started with an ode to the city of Los Angeles, featuring clips from films such as La La Land and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It was followed by a performance of Over the Rainbow sung by Wicked nominee Ariana Grande and then Home by her co-star Cynthia Erivo. It then turned into a performance of Defying Gravity from their hit musical which received a standing ovation.

O’Brien initially emerged from the back of Demi Moore’s character in The Substance in a pre-filmed bit that saw him losing his shoe inside her body. In his opening monologue, he joked about The Brutalist (“I didn’t want it to end and luckily it didn’t”), Conclave (“a movie about the Catholic church but don’t worry”) and A Complete Unknown (“Bob Dylan really wanted to be at the Oscars tonight but not that badly”) and did a song-and-dance number about not wasting time during the evening. Later in the night he also joked: “We’re halfway through the show which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a paedophile!”

O’Brien also spoke about how, during a difficult time for the city as it’s rebuilt after the recent wildfires, award shows “can seem self-indulgent and superfluous” but he said it was an important night to shine a light on those below-the-line who work in the industry but don’t often get seen. “Even in the face of terrible wildfires and divisive politics, the work continues,” he said. Members of the Los Angeles fire department were brought on stage by O’Brien later in the night.

The wins tonight represent a strong showing for smaller-budgeted films with blockbuster picks like Wicked and Dune: Part Two ignored for above-the-line prizes. Big winners with low budgets included Anora ($6m), A Real Pain ($3m), Emilia Pérez ($26m), The Brutalist ($10m), The Substance ($18m) and Conclave ($20m).

Nominated films that ended up empty-handed tonight included A Complete Unknown, Sing Sing, The Apprentice, Nickel Boys and Nosferatu.

Last year’s Oscars were led by major wins for Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic Oppenheimer which took home seven awards including best picture.