US director Sean Baker won the top prize, the Palme d`Or, at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for Anora, beating out 21 other films.

The jury, led by US filmmaker Greta Gerwig, who directed "Barbie," awarded the prestigious prize to Baker for his story about a striptease dancer in Brooklyn named Ani who meets an oligarch`s son, who marries her to the great displeasure of his parents. They do everything in their power to undo the relationship.

The fast-paced film is a mixture of comedy and drama and impressed audiences with unexpected twists and lots of humour.

"This literally has been my singular goal as a filmmaker for the past 30 years," Baker said during his acceptance speech.

"I`m not really sure what I`m going to do with the rest of my life," he joked.

"But I do know that I will continue to fight for cinema because right now as film-makers we have to keep cinema alive."

Watching a film at home, "while scrolling through your phone and checking emails and half-paying attention is just not the way," Baker said.

"Watching a film with others in a movie theatre 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 theatre."

Baker rose to prominence with his 2015 indie comedy "Tangerine," which was shot entirely on iPhones.

The Grand Prix, the second-highest prize after the Palme d`Or, was awarded to "All We Imagine As Light," the first Indian film in competition in 30 years about two women sharing an apartment and the challenges they face in a male-dominated society. Frenchman Jacques Audiard received the Jury Prize for his musical "Emilia Pérez."

Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, who left Iran after being sentenced to several years in prison, was honoured with a Special Jury Prize for "The Seed of the Sacred Fig."

Born in 1972, the filmmaker recently fled Iran by crossing a mountainous borderland on foot before securing shelter in Germany, where his daughter is studying medicine.

It was unclear for a long time whether he would come to the film festival.

His film "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" tells the story of the protests in Iran following the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in September 2022. The situation in the country is told through the tensions in a family.

The prize for best actress was shared by four women this year: It went to actresses Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz for their roles in "Emilia Pérez."

Jesse Plemons was honoured as Best Actor for his role in "Kinds of Kindness" by Yorgos Lanthimos, the director of last year`s "Poor Things."

Miguel Gomes won the award for best director for "Grand Tour." Coralie Fargeat was honoured for best screenplay with "The Substance."

LIST OF WINNERS:

Official Awards:

Feature Films:

Palme d’or:
Anora (USA)
Directed by Sean Baker

Grand Prix:
All We Imagine as Light (France, India, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy)
Directed by Payal Kapadia

Jury Prize:
Emilia Pérez (France, USA, Mexico)
Directed by Jacques Audiard

Best Director:
Miguel Gomes for Grand Tour (Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, China)

Special Award:
Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Iran, France, Germany)

Best Performance by an Actor:
Jesse Plemons in Kinds of Kindness (Ireland, UK)
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Best Performance by an Actress:
Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez in Emilia Pérez (France, USA, Mexico)

Best Screenplay:
Coralie Fargeat for The Substance (UK, USA, France)
Directed by Coralie Fargeat

Short Films:

Palme d’or:
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Croatia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, France)
Directed by Nebojša Slijepčević

Special Mention:
Bad for a Moment (Portugal)
Directed by Daniel Soares

Un Certain Regard:

Un Certain Regard Prize:
Black Dog (China)
Directed by Guan Hu

Jury Prize:
L’histoire de Souleymane (France)
Directed by Boris Lojkine

Best Director Prize ex-aequo:
Roberto Minervini for The Damned (Italy, Belgium, USA)
Rungano Nyoni for On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (UK, Zambia, Ireland)

Best Performance by an Actress:
Anasuya Sengupta in The Shameless (Switzerland, France, Bulgaria and Taiwan)
Directed by Konstantin Bojanov
Produced by Akka Films
Coproduced by Urban Factory, Klas Films, House on Fire

Best Performance by an Actor:
Abou Sangaré in L’histoire de Souleymane (France)

Youth Award:
Holy Cow (France), First film
Directed by Louise Courvoisier

Special Mention:
Norah (Saudi Arabia), First film
Directed by Tawfik Alzaidi

Caméra d’or:
Armand (Norway)
Directed by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel

Special Mention:
Mongrel (Taiwan, Singapore, France)
Directed by Wei Liang Chiang and You Qiao Yin

La Cinef:

First Prize:
Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know… (India)
Directed by Chidananda S Naik

Joint Second Prize:

Out the Window through the Wall (SUA)
Directed by Asya Segalovich

The Chaos She Left Behind (Greece)
Directed by Nikos Kolioukos

Third Prize:
Bunnyhood (UK)
Directed by Mansi Maheshwari

The Higher Technical Commission for Sound and Images Awards:

CST Artist-Technician Prize:
Daria d’Antonio for Parthenope (Italy, France)
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino

CST Young Technician Prize:
Evgenia Alexandrova for The Balconettes (France)
Directed by Noémie Merlant

Immersive Competition:

Best Immersive Work Prize:
Colored (France, Taiwan)
Created by Tania de Montaigne, Stéphane Foenkinos and Pierre-Alain Giraud

Directors’ Fortnight (Quinzaine des Cinéastes) Awards:

Audience Award:
Universal Language (Canada)
Directed by Matthew Rankin

Label Europa Cinemas Award:
The Other Way Around (Spain)
Directed by Jonas Trueba

SACD Award:
This Life of Mine (France)
Directed by Sophie Fillières

Critics’ Week (Semaine de la Critique) Awards:

Grand Prize:
Simon of the Mountain (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay)
Directed by Federico Luis

French Touch Jury Prize:
Blue Sun Palace (USA)
Directed by Constance Tsang

Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award:
Ricardo Teodoro for Baby (Brazil, France, the Netherlands)

Leitz Cine Discovery Award for Short Film:
Montsouris Park (France)
Directed by Guil Sela

Gan Foundation Award for Distribution:
Jour2Fete, French distributor of Julie Keeps Quiet (Belgium, Sweden)
Directed by Leonardo Van Dijl

SACD Award:
Screenwriters Leonardo Van Dijl and Ruth Becquart for Julie Keeps Quiet (Belgium, Sweden)

Canal+ Award for Short Film:
Absent (Turkey)
Directed by Cem Demirer

Next Step Programme Award:
A Girl Unknown (France)
Directed by Zou Jing

Golden Eye Documentary Award:
Ernest Cole, Lost and Found (USA)
Directed by Raoul Peck
The Brink of Dreams (Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia)
Directed by Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir

Queer Palm:
Three Kilometers to the End of the World / Trei kilometri până la capătul lumii (Romania)
Directed by Emanuel Pârvu
Produced by FAMart Association
Coproduced by FAMart Films
Supported by the Romanian Film Centre (CNC), Publicis Groupe Media Bucharest, MMS Communications Romania, House of Media

FIPRESCI Awards:

Competition:
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Iran, France, Germany)
Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof

Un Certain Regard:
L’histoire de Souleymane (France)
Directed by Boris Lojkine

Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week:
Desert of Namibia (Japan)
Directed by Yôko Yamanaka

Ecumenical Jury Awards:

Prize of Ecumenical Jury:
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Iran, France, Germany)
Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof

Marché du Film Goes to Cannes Award:
Don’t Let the Sun (Catch You Crying) (Switzerland, Italy)
Directed by Jacqueline Zünd

Palme Dog:
Kodi in Dog on Trial (France)
Directed by Laetitia Dosch

K. Gjozev