Sean Baker‘s “Anora” is betting big with a fall release date.
The feature, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2024, will be released October 18 from Neon, as IndieWire can confirm. The limited release window makes “Anora” prime for the fall festival circuit, with possible inclusions at Telluride, TIFF, and NYFF, which concludes right before “Anora” will hit theaters.
“Anora” stars “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” breakout Mikey Madison as an exotic dancer and sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch (Mark Eidelstein). Writer/director Baker previously helmed Oscar-nominated film “The Florida Project,” groundbreaking iPhone movie “Tangerine,” and Simon Rex’s career-best “Bottle Rocket.”
The release of “Anora” on October 18 proves that Neon has high hopes for the Palme d’Or winner. Neon has released a trio of Palme d’Or winners before, all in October and all going on to be Oscar-nominated.
Neon released “Parasite” on October 11 back in 2019; the Korean feature went on to make history at the Academy Awards by winning Best Picture. “Triangle of Sadness” was out October 7 in 2022, with 2023 Oscar-winning feature “Anatomy of a Fall” released by Neon October 13. IndieWire’s Anne Thompson predicted the “Anora” Oscar chances in Cannes awards coverage.
IndieWire critic David Ehrlich deemed “Anora” more “Uncut Gems” than “Pretty Woman,” writing, “Splenetically hilarious for more than two hours before reality catches up with it in the film’s unforgettable final scene, “Anora” has next to nothing to do with romance, and almost everything to do with the kind of working-class heartache that a modern Hollywood studio would never even try to get right.”
Ehrlich praised both Madison and Eidelstein’s respective performances in the breakout roles.
“Baker’s movies live and die on the genius of their casting; not just because of the people he’s able to find, but also because of the characters he’s brave enough to go searching for in the first place,” Ehrlich wrote. “Played to entitled perfection by Mark Eydelshteyn, Ivan has a certain Timothée Chalamet-like appeal, but we know from the moment we meet him that he isn’t capable of being anyone’s prince in shining armor. […] It’s a heartache that Mikey Madison’s towering lead performance allows to hide in plain sight, even — or perhaps especially — when she isn’t wearing anything that might help to disguise it, and her naked body transforms into a double blind that invites she and Ivan to share in different sides of the same fantasy.”
“Anora” was the first American film to win the Palme d’Or in more than a decade, since Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” in 2011.
Read the full IndieWire review for “Anora” here.
Variety first reported the news of the “Anora” release date.
