Cannes film festival: ‘anora’ wins palme d’or; ‘all we imagine as light’ takes grand prize; ‘emilia perez’ jury prize & best actress ensemble – full list

UPDATE: Sean Baker’s New York-set romantic dramedy _Anora_ has scooped the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or. This marked Baker’s second time in the competition after 2021’s

_Red Rocket_, and tonight’s win amounted to the realization of what Baker said has been his “singular goal as a filmmaker for the past 30 years.” _Anora_ stars Mikey Madison as a stripper

from Brooklyn who transforms into a modern Cinderella when she meets the son of a Russian oligarch. Complications arise when his parents find out and try to get the marriage annulled.

RELATED GALLERY: EVERY PALME D’OR WINNER GOING BACK TO 1939 WATCH ON DEADLINE In his review, Deadline’s Damon Wise called it “a high-decibel screwball comedy… that accelerates at speed,

cruises at high altitude for a surprisingly long time, then comes back down to Earth with a deeply affecting and almost unbearably melancholy coda that sends the audience out in silence.”

Announcing the Palme d’Or this evening, Cannes jury president Greta Gerwig said, “This particular film, this incredibly human and humane film that captured our hearts, made us laugh, let us

hope beyond hope and then broke our hearts and never lost sight of the truth.” Baker in his acceptance said he was “shaken” and “still in disbelief” that the festival “invited our little

baby to the ball.” He continued, “I’m going to fight for cinema because right now as filmmakers we need to fight to keep cinema alive. This means making feature films intended for theatrical

exhibition. The world has to be reminded that watching a film at home while scrolling through your phone checking emails and half paying attention is just not the way — although some tech

companies would like us to think so. Watching 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 — and that’s sacred. So I say the future of cinema is where it started, in a movie theater.” This is Neon’s fifth Palme d’Or in a row; it will

release domestically with some international markets handled by Focus/Universal. Before the top prize was awarded, George Lucas was presented with an Honorary Palme d’Or by his friend,

mentor, “big brother” and longtime collaborator Francis Ford Coppola. Other winners this evening included two prizes for Jacques Audiard’s lauded _Emilia Perez_ which took a shared Best

Actress nod for its female ensemble of Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascon and Selena Gomez as well as the Jury Prize. The film garnered among the longest standing ovations when it

was presented last Saturday. Exiled Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof was given a Special Prize for his _The Seed of the Sacred Fig_. _Grand Tour_‘s Miguel Gomes was named Best Director.

Jesse Plemons, who was not in attendance, was named Best Actor for his role(s) in Yorgos Lanthimos’ _Kinds of Kindness_ and Payal Kapadia’s feature debut, and the first Indian film in

competition in decades, _All We Imagine as Light_, was the Grand Prize honoree. Check out the full list of winners below: 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