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Writer's pictureCornwall Film Festival

A Director's Signature

A closer look at director Sean Baker’s style, past works and approaches to filmmaking.

 
Behind the Lens: Exploring Directors, Past Works, and Themes at Cornwall Film Festival
White male in black top directing cast and crew
 

American filmmaker Sean Baker has established an illustrious career through exploring stories that centre on marginalised groups of people. Recent popular works include The Florida Project (2017) and Red Rocket (2021), and his latest feature Anora (2024) just won him The Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or award. Over the past decade, he has crafted a range of films that cover the experiences of immigrants, sex workers and transgender people. In conversation with White Little Lies magazine, he explains that this focus on underrepresented people is “really a response to what [he’s] not seeing in films, especially American films.” 


"I am trying to reach a large audience with these films in order for the message to have impact and for awareness to be brought to a certain subject. I am using style to capture a bigger and a younger audience." - Baker (LWL)

In addition to social realism being prominent throughout his filmography, there’s also an undercurrent of his inundated commitment to telling these stories, shown in his thorough approach to filmmaking. For his fifth feature Tangerine (2015), budget restraints resulted in Baker shooting the entire film on an iPhone 5s. But what might at first seem like a technical hindrance, Baker managed to use to his advantage in giving the film a more authentic, intimate touch. Following the story of two prostitutes on one desolate Christmas Eve, ‘unrestrained, Baker moves freely through the mania, trauma, dry humor, and sincere tenderness of their night’ (Interview). 



And his perseverance didn’t stop there. Taking a very hands-on approach to the research process for Anora, Baker frequented the clubs where his protagonist, a sex worker from Brooklyn, might have worked. Joined by a team that included his wife and producer Samantha Quan and lead actress Mikey Madison, Baker visited these clubs in preparation before even writing the script. He recounted the experience with a degree of embarrassment, ‘I’m trying to do an interview while also having a lapdance, which is so ridiculous.” (The Guardian)



Heavily involved in every single stage of production, Baker also edits all of his films. He told MovieMaker, ‘For my kind of filmmaking, editing is 50 percent of directing. It’s such a strong signature on the film. You’re basically in charge of pacing; I literally rewrite in post-production. It’s the editor’s job to bring it home.’ Is there anything this man can’t do?


Another interest of Baker’s is working with fresh faces and lesser-known actors as opposed to big Hollywood names. Aside from including a very recognisable Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project, Baker regularly opts for casting newcomers as his leads. His motives for this range from wanting the audiences to connect with the protagonists faster, hoping they ‘would believe the world if they saw a fresh face’ (LWL), to a personal hesitancy towards working with bigger stars. He confessed working with actors such as Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio could be great, “but you never know. It could really derail a movie”. (The Guardian)



"We need to see new actors coming up and getting opportunities." - Baker (LWL)

Either way, one thing is for sure, Baker is passionate about connecting with audiences and making films that reflect all aspects of America. In an interview with IFFR, he noted ‘I feel the obligation to show the melting pot… So if I’m making a film that makes a statement about the United States and this era, it had better be all-inclusive.”


Catch Anora screening tomorrow night and grab the last few tickets below.

 

Anora on Tuesday 19th November 7:30 PM @ The Poly.


 

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