What do the following films have in common: , , , , and ? A few things, actually: they’re all excellent movies that you should watch (especially the one about , and then becomes pregnant with the car’s baby); they were all distributed by Neon; and they’re the last five winners of the Cannes Film Festival’s highest prize, the Palme d’Or. However, of the first four, only one also won Best Picture at the Academy Awards: . Could be next? stars as a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, played by Mark Eidelstein.
It was written and directed by Sean Baker, who should have received loads of nominations from the Oscars for his last two films, (emphatic, devastating, unforgettable) and (a brilliantly prickly depiction of the Trump era without being explicitly about Trump). But both were snubbed. It does not appear history will repeat itself with .
Outside of the Palme d’Or, was also the second runner-up for the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. That might sound like a minor achievement, but the last film to pull of the same feat was . As film critic David Ehrlich , “I’m the worst Oscar prognosticator in the world but I choose to believe this means something.
” believes it does, too; is listed among the frontrunners to receive a Best Picture nomination at the 2025 Oscars. So does , , , and . That’s a strong showing for a movie from the guy who created about a sex worker.
About that: it’s not that the Oscars have ign.