No Academy Award has ever been given specifically for locations or location scouts, but several of this year’s big winners—One Battle After Another, Sinners, Hamnet, Sentimental Value, and Frankenstein—relied heavily on a strong sense of place. The ceremony even nodded to that geography in its opening, which sent Conan O’Brien-as-Gladys past a juke joint in the Mississippi Delta and through an Oslo living room. Below is a roundup of the key filming locations that helped shape this year’s Oscar winners.
One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Best Picture winner earned six Oscars from 13 nominations, including best director and supporting actor. The film’s “Any-Town, USA” feel was created by shooting across California and Texas; production manager Florencia Martin visited more than 25 cities to assemble a mosaic of contemporary America. Locations ranged from Sacramento to Humboldt County and other Northern and Central California sites, plus stretches of Texas, giving the film its lightning-paced cross-state sweep.
Sinners
Michael B. Jordan earned his first Oscar for Best Actor in this Southern Gothic drama, which blends horror, the supernatural, and musical moments. Although set in the Mississippi Delta in 1932, Sinners was filmed in Louisiana. New Orleans-based production designer Hannah Beachler—an Academy Award winner—crafted the eerie, period-accurate environments in the bayou that underpin the film’s mood and Jordan’s powerful performance.
Sentimental Value
Joachim Trier’s Best International Feature puts Oslo at the center, pairing the Norwegian capital with standout performances from Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, and Elle Fanning. The film’s intimate city settings showcase neighborhoods and interiors that often go unnoticed compared with Europe’s more frequently filmed capitals; expect increased interest in Oslo from film-minded travelers.
Hamnet
Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for her portrayal of Agnes (Anne Hathaway) in this adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel. The production recreated late-1580s England by filming in the lush British countryside—primarily Herefordshire and towns along the Welsh border—transforming medieval farmhouses and landscapes into believable Tudor-era settings that emphasize the story’s ties to nature and herbal healing.
Frankenstein
The film’s multiple wins in costume, makeup and hairstyling, and production design reflect the heavy lifting those departments did to realize the Gothic world of Mary Shelley’s Modern Prometheus. The production shot across the U.K—from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Wiltshire—during a roughly 100-day schedule to evoke late 18th-century Europe. The sprawling locations supported the film’s epic tone and the performances of Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac.
These films show how location choices—whether specific cities, regions that stand in for others, or carefully selected countryside—play a crucial role in storytelling, grounding performances and production design in real places that resonate with audiences.
