Anora, a darkly funny and touching drama about a young exotic dancer who becomes involved with a Russian oligarch’s son, has won the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.
The film by US director Sean Baker beat the 21 other films in the competition lineup, including entries by established directors like Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg.
Jury members including US actor Lily Gladstone and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-Eda have said they are well aware their decision could make or break a director’s career.
As head of the jury, Barbie director Greta Gerwig praised Anora as an “incredible, human and humane film that captured our hearts”.
Baker’s win has made him one of the leading voices of American indie cinema. He dedicated the film to all sex workers.
“This literally has been my singular goal for the past 30 years, so I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with the rest of my life,” he said, while also thanking the film’s star, Mikey Madison, as well as his wife and producer.
Madison plays the character of the title, who meets Vanya, the immature son of a Russian oligarch with seemingly unlimited money, while working at a strip club.
Vanya, played by Mark Eydelshteyn, hires Anora to be his girlfriend for a week, deciding on a whim to take his private plane to party in Las Vegas, where they get married.
That decision upsets his disapproving parents so much that they jet over from Russia to ensure he gets an annulment.
US director Sean Baker poses during a photocall for the film, Anora, at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France [Loic Venance/AFP]
The second-place Grand Prix went to All We Imagine as Light, the first Indian entry in 30 years.
It wowed critics with its poetic monsoon-set portrayal of two women who have migrated to Mumbai to work as nurses.
Emilia Perez also won the third-place Jury Prize for its French director, Jacques Audiard.
And a devastating Iranian film about a…
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