When Luna Sofia Miranda approached Sean Baker in a strip club in New York in 2022, she tried her best to charm him.

But he "very clearly did not want to buy a lap dance," she says.

Miranda, who was 23 at the time, started asking why he and his wife were there.

"I'm very nosy," she says. "So I kept asking them questions and I finally got it out of them. They were making a film about strippers."

She told them she had studied acting, and - after a successful audition - got a call on her 24th birthday, to offer her a part in the film.

That film, Anora, is now seen as one of the frontrunners heading into the Oscars on Sunday.

It's directed by Baker, and stars Mikey Madison, who is up for best actress for her role as a New York stripper.

Madison, 25, relied on real-life strippers to help her perfect the part.

When she won a Bafta film award last month, she dedicated it to the sex worker community.

"I have been able to meet some of that community through my research of the film, and that's been one of the most incredible parts of making the film," she told us backstage.

They "deserve respect and don't often get it. And so I had to say something," she added.

We've been speaking to the actresses, strippers and dancers in the film about their experiences of working on it - and their thoughts on the finished product.

Some praised the film as realistic, particularly in its portrayal of the rejection and exhaustion that sex workers often feel. But others said the film was "limited".

Edie Turquet was initially unsure whether to take part in the film.

The 21-year-old, who is British and appeared in Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts as a child, now lives in New York where she's a student and a stripper.

She got cast as a background dancer in Anora after a casting agent spotted her in the club where she was working. But Turquet says the night before filming,........

© BBC