“Anora,” Sean Baker‘s comic look at an exotic dancer and sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, will hit theaters next fall. The film will open in limited release on Oct. 18 from Neon.
It’s a lucky time of year for the indie studio. Neon previously launched “Parasite” on Oct. 11, debuted “Triangle of Sadness” on Oct. 7 and opened “Anatomy of a Fall” on Oct 13. Like “Anora,” all three of those films premiered at Cannes and won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top honor. “Anora” was the first U.S. film to earn the prize since 2011’s “Tree of Life” from director Terrence Malick.
In a rave review for Variety, Peter Debruge enthused that the film was the “uncut gem of this year’s Cannes competition,” adding that it is “a rowdy Safdie-style movie about two cultures (Russian and American), two languages (Russian and English) and two currencies (money and sex).”
“Anora” stars Mikey Madison (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) as well as Mark Eidelstein, the scene-stealer who plays a drug-addled son of privilege, and whose performance drew comparisons to Timothée Chalamet. The rest of the cast includes Yuriy Borisov, Karren Karagulian and Vache Tovmasyan. Baker’s credits include “The Florida Project,” “Tangerine” and “Red Rocket.”
Neon is best known for distributing “Parasite,” which went on to win best picture at the Oscars. Its other films include Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.” The company has released the five previous Palme d’Or winners — last year’s victor, “Anatomy of a Fall,” also picked up a best picture Oscar nomination and a statue for its screenplay.