Sean Baker's “Anora”, a rowdy whirlwind romance between an erotic dancer who marries the son of the obscenely rich son of a Russian oligarch, won the Palme d'Or award, marking the first American film to cinch the festival’s top prize since Terrence Malick earned the Palme for “The Tree of Life” in 2011.
“Anora” marks Baker’s third movie to debut at the festival, following 2021's “Red Rocket” and 2017's “The Florida Project”.
The American filmmaker accepted the award from two-time Palme d’Or winner Francis Ford Coppola, whose “Megalopolis” went home empty-handed.
Coppola also presented an honorary Palme d’Or to his friend and fellow legend George Lucas, whom he described as his “Own kid brother.”
Baker underscored the importance of making films intended for theatrical exhibition, noting: "The world has to be reminded that watching a film at home, while scrolling through your phone and checking emails and half-paying attention is just not the way, although some tech companies would like us to think so. Watching a film with others in a movie theater is one of the great communal experiences. We share laughter, sorrow, anger, 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.”
“Call My Agent” star Camille Cottin hosted the awards for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where Greta Gerwig presided over a majority-female jury comprised of Lebanese actor-director Nadine Labaki, French stars Eva Green and Omar Sy, Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona, Turkish actor-screenwriter Ebru Ceylan, Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, American actor Lily Gladstone, and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda.
Payal Kapadia accepted the Grand Prix — the festival’s second-highest award — for “All We Imagine as Light”, the first Indian film selected for competition in 30 years, with the last being Shaji Karun’s “Swaham” that went up against “Pulp Fiction” in 1994.
“All We Imagine as Light” focuses on the connections between three Mumbai women of different ages and classes.
The best screenplay prize went to French director Coralie Fargeat for the cosmetic surgery horror show “The Substance,” which stars Demi Moore as a has-been Hollywood beauty and Margaret Qualley as the younger, more perfect doppelganger with whom she agrees to split her time.
The jury broadened the usual best actress category to celebrate what Lily Gladstone described as “the harmony of sisterhood” in “Emilia Pérez”. Directed by former Palme d’Or winner Jacques Audiard (“Dheepan”), the Mexico-set musical — about a cartel boss who disappears to reemerge as a woman — stars Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Karla Sofía Gascón. The pic also won the jury award.
Best actor honors went to Jesse Plemons, who plays three roles — a submissive businessman, a grieving police officer and a cult member — in “Kinds of Kindness,” a surrealist satire from “Poor Things” director Yorgos Lanthimos.
The jury created a special award — greeted with an enthusiastic standing ovation — for Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, who attended the Cannes at great personal risk, fleeing an eight-year prison sentence for making political drama “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.”
The three-hour film examines the country’s recent Women, Life, Freedom movement through a middle-class family whose two daughters question their father’s role in the regime.
Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes won the directing award for “Grand Tour,” which blends black-and-white and color footage, period reenactments, and contemporary anthropological glimpses, in the telling of the early 20th-century story of a British civil servant who attempts to flee his fiancée by hopping from one Asian country to the next.
The Camera d’Or prize for best first feature went to Halfdan Ullman Tondel’s “Armand,” while a (non-standard) special mention went to Directors’ Fortnight selection “Mongrel,” co-directed by Chiang Wei Liang and You Qiao Yin.
The full list of prizes is below.
Competition
Palme d’Or: “Anora,” Sean Baker
Grand Prix: “All We Imagine as Light,” Payal Kapadia
Director: Miguel Gomes, “Grand Tour”
Actor: Jesse Plemons, “Kinds of Kindness.”
Actresses: “Emilia Pérez”
Jury Prize: “Emilia Pérez”
Special Award (Prix Spécial): Mohammad Rasoulof, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
Screenplay: Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance”
Other Prizes
Camera d’Or: “Armand,” Halfdan Ullman Tondel
Camera d’Or Special Mention: “Mongrel,” Chiang Wei Liang, You Qiao Yin
Short Film Palme d’Or: “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent,” Nebojša Slijepčević
Short Film Special Mention: “Bad for a Moment,” Daniel Soares
Golden Eye Documentary Prize: “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found” and “The Brink of Dreams”
Queer Palm: “Three Kilometers to the End of the World”
Palme Dog: Kodi, “Palm Dog”
FIPRESCI Award (Competition): “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Mohammad Rasoulof
FIPRESCI Award (Un Certain Regard): “The Story of Souleymane,” Boris Lojkine
FIPRESCI Award (Parallel Sections): “Desert of Namibia,” Yoko Yamanaka
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard Award: “Black Dog,” Guan Hu
Jury Prize: “The Story of Souleymane,” Boris Lojkine
Best Director Prize: (ex aequo) “The Damned,” Roberto Minervini; “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” Rungano Nyoni
Performance Awards: “The Shameless,” Anasuya Sengupta; “The Story of Souleymane,” Abou Sangare
Youth Prize: “Holy Cow! (Vingt Dieux),” Louise Courvoisier
Special Mention: “Norah,” Tawfik Alzaidi
Directors' Fortnight
Europa Cinemas Label: “The Other Way Around,” Jonás Trueba
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “This Life of Mine,” Sophie Fillières
Audience Choice Award: “Universal Language,” Matthew Rankin
Critics' Week
Grand Prize: “Simon of the Mountain,” Federico Luis
French Touch Prize: “Blue Sun Palace,” Constance Tsang
GAN Foundation Award for Distribution: Jour2Fête, “Julie Keeps Quiet”
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Ricardo Teodoro, “Baby”
Leitz Cine Discovery Prize (short film): “Guil Sela,” Montsouris Park
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