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May 28, 2024
‘Anora’ wins Palme d’Or at 2024 Cannes
Sean Baker’s Anora, which stars Armenian actors Karren Karagulian and Vache Tovmasyan, has won the Palme d’Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, which wrapped Saturday night (May 25). Win marks high point for director Sean Baker; 5th Palme d'Or for distributor Neon, CBC reports. By: K Dass.
Cannes - Anora, a film
directed by Sean Baker, secured the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2024 Cannes
Film Festival. This darkly funny and touching drama revolves around an American
sex worker who marries the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. Sean Baker, the
53-year-old indie filmmaker behind The Florida Project, used iPhones to
create his 2015 film Tangerine.
The win for Anora marks a significant achievement for Baker, who
accepted the prize alongside the movie’s star, Mikey Madison, during the Cannes
closing ceremony. As the first American filmmaker to win the Palme d’Or since
Terrence Malick in 2011, Baker emphasised the importance of preserving cinema
and watching films in theaters rather than on personal devices.
He dedicated his award to all sex workers, past, present, and future.
The film’s victory was somewhat unexpected, as many anticipated other
contenders like the gentle Indian drama All We Imagine As Light or the
Iranian film The Seed of the Sacred Fig to take the top prize.
Additionally, before George Lucas received an honorary Palme d’Or, his old
friend and collaborator Francis Ford Coppola reunited with him during the
festival’s closing ceremony.
The awards were chosen by the nine-member jury led by Greta Gerwig, who
told reporters she was "forever changed as a filmmaker because of this
experience." Gerwig praised Anora as having the feeling of
classical cinema, saying it felt like an Ernst Lubitsch or Howard Hawks film
that lead in unexpected directions.
