American filmmaker Sean Baker’s Anora on Saturday bagged the coveted Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, which also saw Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light clinch the Grand Prix trophy after becoming the first film from India to make it to the main competition section in 30 years.
Anora follows the story of a young sex worker Anora (Mikey Madison) from Brooklyn who unexpectedly finds herself in a Cinderella-like situation when she meets and hastily marries Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. However, her fairytale is jeopardised when news of the marriage reaches Russia, prompting the oligarch's parents to travel to New York with the intent of having the marriage annulled.
Kapadia’s debut feature All We Imagine As Light, featuring Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha, revolves around two Malayali nurses working in Mumbai who make a trip to a beach town to allow themselves to find a space to fulfil their desires.
Iranian filmmaker Mohammed Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig received the Special Prix at the festival.The jury for this year's festival was led by Barbie director Greta Gerwig and included esteemed members such as Lily Gladstone, Hirokazu Koreeda, Eva Green, Omar Sy and Ebru Ceylan among others.
Among the acting awards, the female ensemble of Jacques Audiard’s crime musical Emilia Pérez — Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón and Adriana Paz — shared the best actress honour, while Jesse Plemons bagged the trophy for best actor.
Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes won the best director award for his period drama movie Grand Tour, while Coralie Fargeat received the award for best screenplay for The Substance.
Here’s the complete list of winners at the 77th Cannes Film Festival:
COMPETITION
PALME d’OR: Anora, Sean Baker
GRAND PRIX: All We Imagine as Light, Payal Kapadia
JURY PRIZE: Emilia Perez
SPECIAL PRIZE: Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig
BEST ACTOR: Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness
BEST ACTRESS: Ensemble of Emilia Perez, Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz
BEST DIRECTOR: Miguel Gomes, Grand Tour
BEST SCREENPLAY: Coralie Fargeat,The Substance
OTHER PRIZES
BEST FIRST FEATURE (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, Dog on Trial
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: 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
