At a gala ceremony on Saturday night, the 77th Cannes Film Festival’s winners were announced. Sean Baker was awarded the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest honor for his latest outing, Anora which is about a rowdy whirlwind romance between an exotic dancer (Mikey Madison) and the obscenely rich son of a Russian oligarch (played by Mark Eydelshteyn).
Baker, who was nervous and shaking, took to the stage to thank the jury and say that he still couldn’t believe it. Baker also mentioned that winning Cannes’ top prize has been his sole goal as a filmmaker for the past 30 years.
Baker listed Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg, two veteran directors who have films in Cannes competition this year, as significant influences. Baker has made a significant leap from shooting his 2015 movie Tangerine on an iPhone5s to winning the Palme d’Or.
Commenting on the jury’s decision, jury president Greta Gerwig said Anora had something that reminded us of a classic. There were structures that reminded us of Lubitsch and Howard Hawks. It did something truthful and unexpected.
This film marks the Neon’s fifth film in a row to win the Top Prize at Cannes. Though Neon has not yet announced a U.S. release date for the movie, it is expected that the distributor will launch it in early October, just like they did for their previous Palme winners, a slot that has been successful both for awards season and at the box office.
A full list of winners follows:
Palme d’Or
Sean Baker, Anora
Grand Prix
All We Imagine As Light
Jury Prize
Emilia Pérez
Best Director
Miguel Gomes, Grand Tour
Best Screenplay
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Best Actress
Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez
Best Actor
Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness
Honorary Palme d’Or
Special Award
Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Camera d’Or for Best First Film
Halfdan Ullman Tondel, Armand
Palme d’Or for Best Short Film
Nebojsa Slijepcevic, The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent