Cannes, Mon Amor: Record With 9 Oscar Wins, ‘Anora’ Fourth Palme d’Or Winner to Earn Best Picture
This year’s Oscars marked a victory for U.S. independent cinema: Sean Baker’s “Anora” earned five major award, including best picture, best director, best actress.
But it was also a big win for the Cannes Film Festival, the queen (or king) of film festivals.
Through “Anora,” “Emilia Perez,” “The Substance,” and “Flow,” the Cannes Film Fest won a record 9 awards out of 31 nominations, ahead of the Venice Film Fest with Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here,” which won best international feature film, and 3 nods for Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” including best actor for Adrien Brody.
“Anora,” which also won best director, best actress for Mikey Madison, original screenplay and editing, is only the fourth Palme d’Or winner to have won best picture at the Oscars, after Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” in 2019, and Delbert Mann’s “Marty,” a New-York based crowdpleaser with Ernest Borgnine, in 1955. Billy Wilder’s “The Lost Weekend” also won the top prize at Cannes in 1945, although it wasn’t called the Palme d’Or but the Grand Prize. Other American Palme d’Or winners, such as Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” and Terrence Malik’s “The Tree of Life,” didn’t go as far. The first got best screenplay for Tarantino and Roger Avary; the second earned three Oscar nominations but didn’t win.
Released by Mubi, “The Substance” also became a hit in theaters, grossing over $78 million worldwide, luring audiences who aren’t into genre.
Another movie that beat the odds this year after premiering at Cannes in 2024 was “Flow,” Gints Zibalodis’s Latvian animated film about a solitary cat’s journey, which won over Disney heavyweights such as “Inside Out 2.” The silent movie won a prize at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and a Golden Globe, among a flurry of critics’ awards.
The presence of international movies at the Oscars reflects the growing number of AMPAS voters outside of the U.S., estimated as roughly 30% of members.
Still, the triumph of “Anora” over some of its international rivals for best picture signals triumph for American Independent Cinema, which has faced struggles over filming, financing, and theatrical prospects in recent years.
The 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival runs May 13-24, and the lineup will be unveiled in mid-April.
