American director Sean Baker revitalizes independent cinema with gritty, vérité-style stories rooted in society's margins. His latest film, Anora, delves into the life of a young hostess, capturing raw human experiences beyond Hollywood's polished veneer and conventions.
Director Sean Baker embodies the renewal of American independent filmmaking on the fringes of the cinema industry, ever since the Cannes Film Festival awarded him a Palme d’Or, a kind of life-affirming triumph.
"I will never film in a studio, but always on real locations," declared this devotee of cinéma vérité in Cannes, who crafts films with minimal resources. His award-winning film, Anora, releases in French theaters on Wednesday. He dedicated his Palme to "all sex workers, past, present, and future," recurring characters in his films.
For Anora, Baker follows the journey of a young hostess, from New York's underworld to the luxury villas of Russian oligarchs. "I hope that telling these human stories, which I hope are universal and in which anyone can find themselves, (…) can help break down unfair prejudices associated with this way of life," he explained on the Croisette.
With characters as lifelike as possible portraying the fringes of the American Dream, a whirlwind of emotions, and a touch of humor, Anora stays true to the formula of a director who seeks the closest proximity to reality—and has the faith of someone who’s long struggled through hard times.
"He is a maestro at capturing chaos," praises Anora actor Karren Karagulian. On his sets, "there’s absolute freedom, you can do whatever you want," adds Mark Eydelshteyn, who meets and marries Anora in the film. No intimacy coordinator—"except, of course, if an actor requests one," Baker assures—stunts performed by the actors themselves, a dose of improvisation; the director continues to embrace an artisanal method, far from industry standards.
"His work is nothing like anyone else's," shares his cinematographer, Drew Daniels. "No desk job. You go out on the street for scouting, and then more scouting. You write as you go, adapting, inspired by encounters and locations."
For Anora, the team scoured New York's nooks and crannies, its pole dance clubs, and closely examined the Russian community in Brighton Beach.
Filming on iPhone
Introduced to cinema by his teacher mother, Sean Baker had his epiphany at age six, watching Boris Karloff as Frankenstein, and hasn’t stopped filming since, whether in Super-8 or with a camcorder, actively participating in his high school’s film club.
It was only natural for him to eventually study cinema at New York University, where he directed his first film, *Four Letter Words*. But he soon fell into all kinds of excess and became addicted to heroin.
Having escaped from that dark place, Sean Baker clung to his passion, striving against all odds to make films. Wedding videos, corporate films—everything was an opportunity.
Paradoxically, this admirer of John Cassavetes, Ken Loach, and Mike Leigh became known to the public with a film shot entirely on iPhone, Tangerine, in 2015. This cinematic anomaly, which gained recognition at Sundance and Deauville festivals, recounted the journey of two transgender sex workers during a wild day in Los Angeles.
In 2017, The Florida Project follows a little girl living in a seedy motel near Disney World and her mother who scrapes by. Aside from Willem Dafoe’s presence in the film, Baker's "formula" also relies on casting outside the star system, on Instagram, even at the supermarket.
For the porn star in Red Rocket (2021), he cast an actor who had no real expectation of ending up on the Cannes red carpet: Simon Rex, mostly known for appearing in the Scary Movie series. He gave him a five-minute audition over the phone.
With AFP
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