Director Sean Baker, Palme d'Or award winner for the film "Anora", poses during the closing ceremony of the 77th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 25, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
CANNES, France (Reuters) -"Anora," a darkly funny and touching drama about a young exotic dancer who becomes involved with a Russian oligarch's son, won the Cannes Film Festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, on Saturday.
The film by U.S. director Sean Baker beat the 21 other films in the competition line-up, including entries by established directors like Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg.
"Anora" continues a streak of sex worker-focused films by Baker, including the 2021 Cannes entry "Red Rocket" and 2017's "The Florida Project" starring Willem Dafoe.
This win is dedicated to "to all sex workers past present and future," he said while accepting the award, 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.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray. Editing by Jane Merriman)
