`Anora,` with Armenian actors playing cameos, wins best picture at  Oscars

ArmInfo.  "Anora," a tragicomic Cinderella story set in a murky modern world of New York strippers,  Russian billionaires and incompetent gangsters, won the coveted Oscar  for best picture on Sunday, world media report. 

Balancing a nuanced portrayal of sex work with emotional heartbreak  and crowd-pleasing farce, US indie director Sean Baker's film about a  young escort marrying an oligarch's son seduced Academy Awards voters  to claim the industry's top prize.

Shot for a paltry $6 million, "Anora" overcame any lingering  misgivings about its racy and divisive subject matter, winning five  awards out of six nominations including best director and best  original screenplay on a dominant night at the Hollywood gala.

"I want to thank the Academy for recognizing a truly independent  film," Baker said in accepting the night's top prize. "This film was  made in the blood, sweat and tears of incredible indie artists."  "Long live independent film."

"Anora" began its journey to the Oscars at the Cannes film festival,  where it won the Palme d'Or following its world premiere last May.

It was the first American film to win the prestigious French movie  gathering's top prize since Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" in  2011.

Still, Baker's path to Oscar success back home was far from assured.

His previous films covering sex work, such as 2021's "Red Rocket,"  have performed well with overseas critics and arthouse audiences, but  failed to gain traction at the multiplexes that dominate the United  States.

When "Anora" failed to win a single prize at the Golden Globes in  January, its momentum appeared to be fatally stuttering.

But with controversy engulfing rivals like "Emilia Perez," "Anora"  quietly cultivated word-of-mouth buzz, earning almost $40 million at  the global box office.

And it decisively re-emerged as this season's frontrunner last month,  when it won key prizes from Hollywood's producer, director, writer  and critic guilds.

A rare film that is almost universally admired, from a director  finally receiving his due, it collected the US movie industry's most  important prize of all Sunday.

"Anora" -- which begins at a New York strip club -- is Baker's fifth  film to tackle sex work.

Typically for his movies, several actors are real-life erotic  dancers, who both perform on screen, and also advised the filmmakers  on everything from slang to typical interactions with customers.

"He said I looked like his 18-year-old daughter and then he bought  five dances from me," complains one stripper.

"Well, at least he bought the dances," replies Ani (Oscar winner  Mikey Madison), the protagonist.  Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), a bratty  and fabulously wealthy Russian customer, takes a liking to Ani, and  the pair take a whirlwind detour to Las Vegas, where they  spontaneously marry.

But any illusions of "Pretty Woman" are quickly shattered, as the  action returns to New York.

Terrified that his parents have learned about his romantic antics,  Ivan flees, and a group of panicking hoodlums -- led by Karren  Karagulian's Toros -- have to restrain a furious and violent Ani.

This memorable set piece is the first scene Baker wrote for "Anora."

Karagulian, who met Baker at university in the 1990s and has starred  in several of his films, was the original inspiration for "Anora."

The pair had for years discussed a project to be set in Karagulian's  native New York neighborhood -- the colorful Russian immigrant  enclave of Brighton Beach.

Known for his neo-realist filmmaking, Baker often injects humor into  his films.

And he created arguably his most comedic sequence to date with the  second act of "Anora" -- a wild-goose- chase hunt for Ivan, with  elements of screwball farce.

"I'm trying to capture a truth, and usually show as close to reality  as I can get. And that almost always needs humor," Baker later  explained to AFP.

"Because sometimes we use laughter to cope. Sometimes we're laughing  when we are the saddest." The film reaches a devastating climax in  which Ani sees her dream of a marriage of means evaporate, and allows  her feisty, hypersexualized mask to slip, at least for a brief and  heart-wrenchingly vulnerable moment.

Throughout this awards season, Baker and Madison have used their many  acceptance speeches to encourage the destigmatization and  decriminalization of sex work.

Baker acknowledged the community onstage in accepting the best  original screenplay prize on Sunday, saying "they have shared their  stories, they have shared their life experience with me over the  years. My deepest respect."

Madison echoed the sentiment: "All of the incredible people, the  women, that I've had the privilege of meeting from that community has  been one of the highlights of this... entire incredible experience."

"I will continue to support and be an ally."