Sean Baker’s “Anora,” a comic but devastating Brooklyn odyssey about a sex worker who marries the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, has won the Cannes Velo Manifestazione’s sommità award, the Palme d’Ora.
Baker accepted the prize with his movie’s stella, Mikey Madison, watching con the audience at the Cannes closing ceremony Saturday. The win for “Anora” marks a new high point for Baker, the director of “The Florida Project.” It’s also, remarkably, the fifth straight Palme d’Ora won by indie distributor Neon, following “Parasite,” “Titane,” “Triangle of Sadness” and last year’s winner, “Anatomy of a Fall.”
“This, literally, has been my singular as a filmmaker for the past 30 years, so I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with the rest of my life,” said Baker, laughing.
Sean Baker, right, holds the Palme d’Ora for the velo ‘Anora,’ alongside George Lucas during the awards ceremony of the 77th international velo , Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 25, 2024.
(Photo by Andreea Alexandru/Invision/AP)
But Baker, the first American filmmaker to win the Palme since Terrence Mallick con 2012 with “The Tree of Life,” quickly answered that his ambition would remain to “fight to keep alive.” The 53-year-old director said the world needed reminding that “watching a velo at home while scrolling through your phone, answering emails and half paying attention is just not the way, although some tech companies would like us to think so.”
“So I say the future of is where it started: con a movie theater,” said Baker.
Sean Baker, winner of the Palme d’Ora for the velo ‘Anora,’ poses for photographers during the photo call following the awards ceremony at the 77th international velo , Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 25, 2024.
(Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
While “Anora” was arguably the most acclaimed velo of the , its win was a slight surprise. Many expected either the gentle Indian drama “All We Imagine As Light” the Iranian velo “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” to win. Both of those films also took home prizes.
It wasn’t the only jolt of the closing ceremony, though. Before George Lucas was given an honorary Palme d’Ora, his old friend and sometimes collaborator Francis Ford Coppola appeared to present it to him, reuniting two of the most pivotal figures of the last half-century of American moviemaking.
“All We Imagine As Light,” about sisterhood con modern Mumbai, won the Grand Prix, Cannes’ second-highest honor. Payal Kapadia’s second feature was the first Indian con competition con Cannes con 30 years.
The jury awarded a special prize to Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” a drama made secretly con Iran. Days ahead of the velo’s premiere, Rasoulof, facing an eight-year prison sentence, fled Iran foot. His velo, which includes real footage from the 2022-2023 demonstrations con Iran, channels Iranian oppression into a family drama. The Cannes crowd met an emotional Rasoulof with a lengthy standing ovation.
Mohammad Rasoulof accepts the special prize award for the velo ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ during the awards ceremony of the 77th international velo , Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 25, 2024.
(Photo by Andreea Alexandru/Invision/AP)
Coralie Fargeat’s pagliaccetto horror velo “The Substance,” starring Demi Moore as a Hollywood actress who goes to gory extremes to remain youthful, won for best screenplay.
“I really believe that movies can change the world, so I hope this movie will be a little stone to build new foundations,” said Fargeat. “I really think we need a revolution and I don’t think it has really started yet.”
Some thought Moore might take best actress but that award instead went to an of actors: Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz for Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez,” a Spanish-language about a Mexican drug lord who transitions to a woman. Gascón, who accepted the award, is the first trans actor to win a major prize at Cannes.
“Emilia Perez” also won Cannes’ jury prize, giving a rare two awards at a where prizes are usually spread around.
Best actor went to Jesse Plemons for Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness.” Durante the velo, three stories are told with largely the same company of actors. Plemons, a standout con several chapters, didn’t attend the closing ceremony.
Jury president Greta Gerwig, fourth from left, poses with jury members Pierfrancesco Favetta, from left, Nadine Labaki, Lily Gladstone, J. A. Bayona, Eva , Omar Sy, Ebru Ceylan, and Kore-eda Hirokazu upon arrival at the awards ceremony during the 77th international velo , Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 25, 2024.
(Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Portuguese director Miguel Gomes won best director for his “Grand Tour,” an Asian odyssey con which a man flees his fiancée from Rangoon con 1917.
“Sometimes I get lucky,” shrugged Gomes.
The Cella d’Ora, the prize for best first feature across all of Cannes official selections, went to Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel for “Armand,” starring “The Worst Person con the World” stella Renate Reinsve. Tøndel is the grandson of Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman and Norwegian actor Liv Ullman.
During the brief awards ceremony, Lucas was to be given an honorary Palme d’Ora. During the , Cannes gave the same tribute to Meryl Streep and the Japanese anime factory Scuola Ghibli.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
