Solidarity, courage, resistance, change: these are the words that marked the closing of the 77th Cannes Film Festival with the surprise victory of the Palme d'Or for the independent film Anora by the American Sean Baker, the story of a stripper from Brooklyn who lives the love story with the son of a Russian oligarch, a plot that updates the now classic Pretty Woman.
The Palmares assigned by the jury chaired by the director and actress Greta Gerwig, creator of the Barbie phenomenon and with strong personalities such as Lily Gladstone and Omar Sy and with Pierfrancesco Favino, reserved many surprises and many emotions. And left out Italy which had Paolo Sorrentino's Parthenope in the running. The embrace between Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas was historic: the director of The Godfather gave the creator of Star Wars the honorary Palme d'Or, 85 years old for the former, 80 for the latter and his signature in the book of cinema history.
The maestro Coppola who wanted to be in competition with the work he has been pursuing for 40 years, Megalopolis, given on the paper favorite did not make the Montee des Marches to appear on the stage of the Grand Theater Lumiere in the ceremony conducted by Camille Cottin making a surprise to everyone the audience and Lucas. Generous as ever. The jury, with an unexpected verdict, in fact felt free to ignore the giant, just as it dribbled the political weight of the film by the fugitive Mohammad Rasoulof with a special, tailor-made prize.
«What an honor the surprise of Francis Ford, my brother, mentor and friend» said Lucas without losing his special composure. The one who gave emotion was Karla Sofia Gascon, winner (with Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz) for the female interpretation of Emilia Perez by Jacques Audiard (who also took home the third most important prize, the Prix of the jury). The Spanish actress who is the narcoboss who decides to change sex and life by transforming into a maternal and caring woman, she herself made the gender transition, she was a popular soap actor.
After declaring her love for the French director, "I adore you for your love, your passion, your creativity, best director in the world and the galaxy with the permission of George Lucas" through tears she addressed all the actresses as she who "often knocked on doors that don't open" and to trans people: "We are suffering, we are denigrated, tomorrow this news will be commented on with the usual hatred, but let's give hope on this journey with this film, there is 'opportunity to be better: change you bastards.'
The young director Coralie Fargeat, winner of the screenplay award for the feminist horror The Substance with Demi Moore, spoke about women and resistance, «a film about the experience of women in the world and the violence they suffer. I hope that if not changing the world, I can at least make a small contribution, be part of the change, close to all the women who take the risk of speaking out and denouncing and being part of this revolution that has just begun all together." Women, who were the macro theme of the entire festival, with new looks at the feminine and on the feminine, were echoed in the words of Rasoulof, special prize for The Seed of the Sacred Fig. «The young women of my country, of the Women Life Freedom movement, inspired me with their great courage to fight. My people are hostages of the regime, a situation of suffering that is experienced every day, the actors of my film were held in Iran under pressure from the secret services of the Islamic Republic and I am deeply sad. This film is a miracle but in Iran terrible things happen to artists, university students, young people, today Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to death for his artistic activity as a rapper", Rasoulof said in front of an emotional audience and a standing ovation for him. Other women, other countries: it is the India of All We Imagine as Light by Payal Kapadia, a young director, 38 years old who won the prestigious second prize, the Grand Prix with a story "of solidarity and empathy", the story of a young nurse from Mumbai, a film "shot like a family". The director expressed solidarity with the people who work at the festival, the temporary workers who asked for protection and stability.
(Unioneonline)
