CANNES 2024 - remote notes

[Chris Knipp]

SELENA GOMEZ IN EMILIA PÉREZ

CANNES AWARDS
SOURCE (VARIETY)

Palme d'Or: ANORA (Sean Baker)
Grand Prix: ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT (Payal Kapadia)
Jury Prize: EMILIA PÉREZ (Jacques Audiard)
Best Screenplay: THE SUBSTANCE (Coralie Fargeat)
Best Actress: Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofía Gascón, Adriana Paz (EMILIA PÉREZ)
Best Actor: Jesse Plemens (KINDS OF KINDNESS, 3 roles)
Special Award Mohammad Rasoulof (THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG, which also won the Competition FIPRESCI Prize)
Best Director Miguel Gomes (GRAND TOUR)
Caméra d'Or (Best First Feature): ARMAND (Halfdan Ullman Tondel)
Special Mention: MONGREL (Chiang WEi Liang, You Qiao Yin)
SEE VARIETY FOR THE DIRECTORS' FORTNIGHT AND CRITICS' WEEK AWARDS

This will be good for Sean Baker during US awards season, according to Brother Bro of The Oscar Expert. The female-majority jury showed sisterhood in choosing not one but four best actresses, one of whom is a trans person. THE SUBSTANCE, the satirical" body horror film which there was so much fuss, got a small prize, the Screenplay award. Francis Ford Coppola handed out several of the awards, but got nothing. Jia Zhan-ke's CAUGHT BY THE TIDES didn't get mentioned. Bradshaw wrote that this was "a radically romantic festival" and claims that Sean Baker has always had his own unique approach to sex workers, and that ANORA is his best film yet. It sounds like his most entertaining one. The GUARDIAN head film critic says "Many in Cannes will have been deeply disappointed that the Palme didn’t go to THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG," which certainly is a whole lot more serious and a political statement. (Then he would have to say this was a political festival, not a "radically romantic" one. (It's not quite clear that ANORA is a "romantic" story, but I haven't seen it.). Was this a great Cannes Competition year? Can this roster of winners compare with last year's ANATOMY OF A FALL, THE ZONE OF INTEREST, FALLEN LEAES, PERFECT DAYS, ABOUT DRY GRASSES, THE TASTE OF THINGS, and MONSTER? WE'll have to actually see this year's winners to say.


SEAN BAKER,MARK EYDELSHTEYN, AND MIKEY MADISON AT THE CANNES PREMIERE OF AMORA

Sean Baker reacts to winning the top prize for his film, ANORA.