With a Palme d’Or and a Best Screenplay award, Neon and Mubi led some of the biggest sales at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
“I say the future of cinema is where it started: in a movie theater,” American filmmaker Sean Bakers declares as he receives the Palme d’Or for Anora at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Buzzy studios like Neon, Mubi or A24 came and have now gone home with their hands full of very strong contenders for the upcoming awards season, such as Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez or Coralie Fargeat’s body horror The Substance. Thankfully, these movies should all have a theatrical release.
Anora
“This is for all sex workers — past, present and future,” declares Sean Baker in his acceptance speech. Anora was acquired by Neon in the U.S, which marks the company’s fifth Palme d’Or in a row, following Anatomy of a Fall last year. Starring Mickey Madison, Anora is described as a love story between a rich Russian oligarch and a sex worker.
The Substance
Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance won an award for Best Screenplay at Cannes. The movie stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley and was bought by Mubi, who just announced that it will be released in U.S. theaters September 20th. In The Substance, an aging actress takes a new medication to reveal a new, better, younger version of herself.
