Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday afternoon to another standing ovation, as one of the stronger U.S. films to debut in the South of France.

The drama, which will be distributed in the United States by A24, received five minutes of sustained applause inside the Palais.

“It’s amazing to be here at the Cannes Film Festival, especially this year, in which we’re seeing cinema come back,” Baker said in brief remarks to the crowd. “It feels so great to be back in a movie theater.”

“Red Rocket” follows a washed-up male porn star, Mikey Saber (played by Simon Rex), who moves back home to Texas City, Texas, crashing on his mother-in-law’s couch and trying to patch things up with his estranged wife Lexi (Bree Elrod) during the summer before the 2016 presidential election. As Mikey looks to make a comeback,...