This year’s Cannes Film Festival had given us some pretty amazing new movies, and the winners were finally crowned this Saturday night. Sean Baker’s Anora emerged as one of the festival’s biggest hits and walked away with the prestigious Palme d’Or prize.
Led by Mikey Madison, Anora centers on an exotic dancer from New York, whose quick elopement with the naïve son of a Russian oligarch takes a wild turn when his parents decide to fly to New York and do everything in their power to force an annulment of their marriage.
Writer/director Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Red Rocket) accepted the Palme d’Or for Anora and used his acceptance speech to stress the importance of movie theaters.
“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. So I say the future of cinema is where it started: in a movie theater,” said Baker.
Jesse Plemons picked up the trophy for the best actor for his role in Kinds of Kindness, while Adriana Paz, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Zoe Saldaña shared the best actress award for their work in Emilia Pérez. This film also won the Jury Prize, while Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light walked away with the Grand Prix prize.
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
