June 2024 - Cannes, France:

The 77th Cannes Film Festival is now in the books and entertainment industry followers are agreeing these showings did not produce the most memorable and best films in the recent history of this important festival.

The big winner was Sean Baker's Anora - selected by the head of the jury Greta Gerwig and her highly respected team being named the Palme D’ Or. Gerwig is the first female American director ever to assume that role.

Baker became the first American director to win the festival’s top prize since Terrence Malick for his The Tree of Life in 2011.

It's a New York-set romantic drama mixed with comedy that tells the story of a stripper from Brooklyn who transforms into a modern day Cinderella when she meets the son of a Russian oligarch.

Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez, a Mexico-set gangster trans musical was a huge hit featuring huge stars - Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz winning the Best Actress award as an ensemble cast, with Gascón becoming the first trans performer to take the prize in Cannes.

The jury said they voted for this film because it celebrates sisterhood and trans solidarity.

Then, the film was awarded a second honor: the Jury Prize. It’s quite rare in Cannes, as once a film secures one of the main prizes, it then is removed for other awards.

Audiard had previously won the Palme d’Or back in 2015 for Dheepan.

Star Wars creator George Lucas was presented with an Honorary Palme d'Or at the closing ceremony.

In a special moment, Lucas was joined on stage by his longtime friend, mentor and collaborator, Francis Ford Coppola who presented the award.

Academy Award winning actress Meryl Streep was presented with the Palme d’Or from Juliette Bincohe while the legendary Studio Ghibli was awarded an honorary Palme d’or with filmmaker and Ghibli head of creative development Goro Miyazaki accepting the trophy from Feature Film Jury member, the Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona.

Ghibli was launched 40 years ago by Hayao Miyazaki - Five of the studio's films are among the ten highest-grossing anime feature films made in Japan.

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