*Sean Baker and Mikey Madison in Cannes. Courtesy of Andreas Rentz/Getty Images.*

Sean Baker is garnering mass acclaim during his festival run for his latest film ‘Anora,’ starring Mikey Madison as the title role. The pair are currently attending the BFI London Film Festival for Neon’s Palme d’Or winner, where Baker said audiences should be watching more “adult films” and “without superheroes and explosions,” ahead of the film’s London premiere.

Baker and Madison spoke with BFI festival director Kristy Matheson about why they wanted to tell such a twisted story on the big screen.

‘Anora’ synopsis: Anora, an adult dancer from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

The film premiered in-competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, and won the festival’s most prestigious award: the Palme d’Or.

Famously, ‘Anora’ did not use intimacy coordinators during production, in which Baker said: “I think it’s very important for an actor to have that option. And of course, we offered both Mikey and Mark [Eidelstein] that option. But also I have directed sex themes throughout my career, so I was very comfortable doing so and also as a producer on my film, the number one priority is the safety and comfort of my actors.”

The director continued: “So by the time we got to shooting, I think we were so comfortable that it was approached in such an incredibly clinical way. There was no improv. We like to call them sex shots, not sex scenes, because they’re blocked, they’re calculated.”

‘Anora’ is Baker’s fifth film exploring sex work, but he ensures to “always treat [my] characters as individuals” to keep stories unique and grounded.

‘Anora’ releases October 18 in the USA and November 1 in the United Kingdom.

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