Anora wins top Hollywood producer and director prizes
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American director Sean Baker with the award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film for Anora at the 77th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Beverly Hills, California, on Feb 8.
PHOTO: AFP
LOS ANGELES – Comedy-drama Anora was named the best film of the year by Hollywood’s directors and producers on Feb 8, cementing its new status as the film to beat at the upcoming Oscars.
The black comedy from American director Sean Baker, about an erotic dancer’s whirlwind romance gone wrong, picked up the prestigious Directors Guild of America’s (DGA) and Producers Guild of America’s (PGA) top awards, just a day after capturing the foremost American critics’ prize.
“My imposter syndrome is skyrocketing right now,” said Baker as he accepted his prize at a swanky Beverly Hills DGA gala. The 53-year-old indie director is best known in art-house circles for his empathetic portrayals of life in American subcultures.
He thanked his producers for being “able to pull off a US$6 million (S$8.13 million) film, shot on film, in New York City in 2023 – almost impossible”.
Anora won the Cannes film festival’s Palme d’Or top prize in May 2024, yet had recently lagged behind other films – including Netflix’s musical drama Emilia Perez – in terms of Oscar nominations.
Anora has six nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Actress for its leading lady Mikey Madison and Best Director for Baker.
Emilia Perez has the most nominations with 13 nods, though it has been plagued by scandal in recent days after its Best Actress nominee Karla Sofia Gascon’s offensive social media posts were unearthed.
Besides Feb 8’s awards coup, Anora also won best picture at the Critics Choice Awards on Feb 7, propelling it as a renewed favourite for the Academy Awards, which will take place on March 2.
Accepting his prize from director Christoper Nolan, last year’s DGA winner, Baker joked that campaigning for Hollywood’s seemingly never-ending awards season had made him feel like he was “actually doing work” for “the first time”.
“I’ve been able to play – and I feel like the luckiest guy in the world, being able to do the thing I’ve wanted to do since I was five years old,” said Baker.
He also thanked his mother for supporting his career. But Baker, whose films mainly centre on sex work and pornography, admitted he was glad she had not seen his latest, somewhat graphic project.
Nineteen of the past 21 DGA winners have gone on to also win the Oscar for Best Director that same year, including the last two winners – Oppenheimer (2023) and Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022).
The DGA prize for best movie from a first-time film-maker went to another Oscar Best Picture nominee, Nickel Boys, from RaMell Ross.
The American director, whose film about abuses at a 1960s Florida reform school for juvenile boys – shot as if from the eyes of its characters – said it was too “rare” to see the black gaze represented in Hollywood cinema.
Meanwhile, across town in Los Angeles on Feb 8, Anora also won the PGA top prize. AFP
