This year’s Cannes Film Festival was one for the books, and it brought some of Hollywood’s biggest stars to the French Riviera. The winners were finally crowned this Saturday night, and Sean Baker’s Anora managed to walk away with the coveted Palme d’Or prize.
Anora stars Mikey Madison as an exotic New York dancer, who realizes she bit off more than she can chew after getting entangled with the son of a Russian oligarch. After they elope in Las Vegas, his parents are determined to put a stop to their marriage, and they fly to New York to force an annulment.
Writer/director Sean Baker accepted the Palme d’Or for Anora, and he dedicated his victory to all the filmmakers out there who are dedicated to making films for theatrical distribution.
“Watching a film with others in a movie theater is one of the great communal experiences. We share laughter, sorrow, anger, and fear and hopefully have a catharsis with our friends and strangers — and that’s sacred. So I see the future of cinema as where it started: in a movie theater,” said Baker in his powerful speech.
The Cannes Film Festival took place from May 14 to 25, and Greta Gerwig led the main competition jury, along with actors Lily Gladstone, Eva Green, and Omar Sy.
FULL LIST OF WINNERS AT THE 2024 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL:
Palme d’Or
Anora, dir: Sean Baker
Grand Prize
All We Imagine as Light, dir: Payal Kapadia
Jury Prize
Emilia Perez, dir: Jacques Audiard
Best Director
Miguel Gomes, Grand Tour
Special Prize
Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Best Actor
Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness
Best Actress
Emilia Perez ensemble: Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascon, Selena Gomez
Best Screenplay
The Substance, Coralie Fargeat
Camera d’Or
Armand, dir: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Special Mention
Mongrel, dir: Chiang Wei Liang
Short Film Palme d’Or
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, dir: Nebojsa Slijepcevic
Special Mention
Bad For a Moment, dir: Daniel Soares