A Cinderella Tease…

Anora is a 2024 American romantic comedy-drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Sean Baker. The film stars Mikey Madison as Anora “Ani” Mikheeva, a stripper from New York who unexpectedly marries Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov, the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, portrayed by Mark Eydelshteyn. The supporting cast includes Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Darya Ekamasova, and Aleksei Serebryakov.

The film premiered to critical acclaim at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2024, where it won the prestigious Palme d’Or. It was later released theatrically by Neon on October 18, 2024. Anora went on to become Baker’s highest-grossing film, earning $56.5 million worldwide against a modest $6 million budget.

Anora garnered widespread recognition during awards season. It was named one of the top ten films of 2024 by both the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. At the 97th Academy Awards, the film received six nominations and won five major categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (for Madison), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. It also received seven nominations at the 78th British Academy Film Awards, winning two, as well as seven nominations at the 30th Critics Choice Awards, winning Best Picture, and earned five nominations at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, and three nominations at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Director Sean Baker revealed that Anora was inspired by a story a friend had shared about a Russian-American newlywed who was kidnapped and held as collateral. The idea also stemmed from his early experience editing wedding videos in 2000 and 2001, including several for Russian-American couples in New York. Reflecting on his approach to storytelling, Baker stated that his goal was to tell “human stories” that feel universal, adding, “It’s helping remove the stigma that’s been applied to [sex work], that’s always been applied to this livelihood.”

To ensure authenticity, Baker brought on Canadian writer and actress Andrea Werhun—known for her 2018 memoir Modern Whore, chronicling her experiences as a sex worker—as a creative consultant.

Baker cast Mikey Madison in the lead role after seeing her performances in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) and Scream (2022). Impressed by her work, he offered her the role without an audition. To prepare, Madison immersed herself in the character’s world: she studied the Brooklyn accent, learned Russian, and visited strip clubs for research. While some media outlets mistakenly described Anora Mikheeva as Uzbek-American, Baker clarified that the character is “of Russian ethnicity” and hails from one of the post-Soviet states.

Anora premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2024, and went on to win the festival’s top honor, the Palme d’Or, on May 25. The film received a 10-minute standing ovation following its screening, signaling the strong reception from critics and audiences alike. It marked the fifth consecutive Palme d’Or winner to be distributed in the United States by Neon, and notably, became the first American-produced film to receive the award since Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life in 2011.

At the Oscars, Anora won five awards, including Best Picture, making it only the fourth film—after The Lost Weekend, Marty, and Parasite—to win both the Palme d’Or and the Academy Award for Best Picture. Baker matched Walt Disney’s long-standing record for the most Academy Awards won by a single individual in one year, and became the only person to win all four of his awards for the same film.

Anora is the is the Featured Film Blog of the month for April, for its Academy Award winning season, You can expect to read a critique of the 2024 film that looks at director Sean Baker’s vision of the sex worker profession, You can also read a recommendation for the film with a look at the controversy around Mikey Madison‘s declining an intimacy coordinator. There is also a review of the film that looks at the history of independent films and Best Picture at the Oscars. For the interview, Madison, Borisov, Eydelshteyn and Karagulian talk about trusting and working with Baker for Anora. There is also a Top Ten List to commemorate the film being a Featured Film Blog of the month, and for Anora, the topic of the list is My Top Ten Striptease Movies! And finally, as a Featured Film Blog of the month, you can watch the Official Trailer for Anora, and then plan on watching it tonight on Hulu!

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Anora is available now with a subscription to Hulu…