Sean Baker won Academy Awards on Sunday night for writing, editing and directing his film Anora, a Cinderella story set in Brooklyn's Russian emigre communities of Brighton Beach and Coney Island. By the end of the night, the film's star Mikey Madison had collected a best lead actress award and Anora took home best picture.
In his acceptance speech for best director, Baker made what he called his "battle cry" for supporting movie theaters.
"Where did we fall in love with the movies? At the movie theater," he said onstage. "Watching a film in the theater with an audience is an experience. We can laugh together, cry together, scream in fright together, perhaps sit in devastated silence together, and in a time in which the world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever. It's a communal experience you simply don't get at home. And right now the theatergoing experience is under threat."
He pleaded with audiences to go to theaters — and for filmmakers to "keep making films for the big screen."
An "indie film lifer" is how Sean Baker referred to himself after winning the best director prize at the Film Independent Spirit Awards in February.
"This is a tragedy with comedic elements," Baker told NPR recently about his film. "I still want my audiences to be entertained. So just know that they're going to be taking this wild ride with a very motley crew around New York City, in a community that they haven't really seen represented that often in film and TV."
When Anora premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, it won the prestigious Palme d'Or, and critical recognition for its actors. The film stars Mikey Madison as a young Russian American exotic dancer who impulsively marries the reckless son of a Russian oligarch. For her performance, Madison won the Oscar Sunday night for best actress.
Baker also cast Russian actor Yura Borisov as a tenderhearted henchman. His performance earned him an Oscar nomination for best actor in a supporting role.
Baker told NPR it was a feat to get his low-budget film funded. "You understand how unorthodox that was, for me to try to get $6 million with just casting Mikey Madison and a bunch of unknown Russians and Armenians?"
He said when he showed his cast list to potential funders, "they were like, Oh my God, Sean, can you please try? … This is a business still, and can you please provide some recognizable names that will help us out here? It'll help the sales."
Baker said he stuck to his guns and was lucky enough to have FilmNation and distributor Neon back him up.
"I've made now eight features, and seven of the eight focus on — you could say marginalized subcultures or communities. I like to see it as people who are chasing the American dream, but don't have easy access to it," Baker told NPR. "They're perhaps an undocumented immigrant, or perhaps they have a livelihood or a lifestyle that has unfair stigma applied to it. And so they have to find other ways of actually pursuing the American dream."
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