Anora Best Director Spirit Award winner Sean Baker championed indie cinema in his acceptance speech, exclaiming that it’s “struggling more than ever” with little pay for those who provide a cultural zeitgeist for Hollywood and cinema.
Baker spoke about how it takes three years to make a feature and that a person needs to have such a huge box office hit to realize any great profit.
“If you’re a writer or director trying to break in right now, you’ll make a film for free,” Baker said. “Take the DGA minimum and divide it by three.”
He also said that if he had kids, “I wouldn’t be able to make the movies I make. … I’m an indie lifer!”
Of great importance to keeping it indie for Baker is making movies with complete creative freedom and casting, whereby a studio isn’t greenlighting based on box office terms or social media followers.
“The system has to be changed, it’s completely unsustainable,” said Baker in his acceptance speech. “We shouldn’t be barely getting by.”
The speech received a huge standing ovation.
Anora also won Best Performer for Mikey Madison and Best Feature at the Spirits.
Anora is Baker’s highest-grossing movie of his canon with close to $38M at the global box office. The pic, which won the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, is up for six Oscar noms. Baker also won the DGA Award, and the film has won the top prize at the Producers Guild Awards.
RELATED: Sean Baker’s ‘Anora’ Takes Top DGA & PGA Awards Prizes On Same Night – How This Could Predict Oscars
