About Anora
Anora is a 2024 American comedy-drama movie written and directed by Sean Baker. The main character, Anora, is played by Mikey Madison, who is an exotic dancer. The story is about her troubled romance with the son of a rich Russian businessman.
The film first showed on May 21, 2024, at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the top prize, the Palme d’Or. It is the first American film to win this award since 2011. Anora will be released in theaters on October 18, 2024, by Neon.
Plot
Ani is a young stripper from Brighton Beach, a neighborhood in New York City where many people speak Russian. She is part Uzbek and part American. Ani speaks a little Russian, so her boss sets her up with clients who speak Russian. She meets Vanya, the son of a rich Russian man, and they fall in love and run away together to get married. However, their happy life is in danger when Vanya’s parents come to New York to try to end their marriage.
Cast
- Mikey Madison as Anora / Ani
- Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov
- Yuriy Borisov as Igor
- Karren Karagulian as Toros
- Vache Tovmasyan as Garnick
- Lindsey Normington as Diamond
- Ivy Wolk as Crystal
- Luna Sofía Miranda as Lulu
- Alena Gurevich as Clara
- Aleksei Serebryakov as Vanya’s father
- Darya Ekamasova as Vanya’s mother
Production
Filming started in early 2023 in Brooklyn, New York.
For the movie “Anora,” Baker said he wanted to tell stories that people can relate to. He wanted to help remove the negative views people have about this way of life.
At a press conference in Cannes, Mikey Madison said that Baker and his wife, Samantha Quan, who is also the producer, would show the actors different sex positions by acting them out themselves. Madison was offered someone to help with the intimate scenes but felt comfortable with Baker and Quan, as they had built a good relationship over the past year. This made her feel at ease during filming. Baker confirmed that they didn’t have an intimacy coordinator on set because he and Quan took on that role. He said that whether to use an intimacy coordinator depends on each film and the actor’s preference. He emphasized that the safety and comfort of the actors are the top priorities.
Release
FilmNation Entertainment bought the worldwide distribution rights for the film in October 2023. After that, FilmNation sold the rights to different companies in various regions: Le Pacte for France, Lev for Israel, Kismet for Australia and New Zealand, and Focus Features/Universal Pictures International for the rest of the world except North America. This was done in a way similar to the deals for Baker’s earlier film, Red Rocket. In November 2023, Neon bought the distribution rights for North America and plans to release the film on October 18, 2024.
The movie, called “Anora,” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2024. It won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize, on May 25. The audience gave it a 10-minute standing ovation after the screening. This was the fifth Palme d’Or winner that Neon distributed in the United States. Previous winners distributed by Neon include “Parasite,” which later won the Academy Award for Best Picture, “Titane,” “Triangle of Sadness,” and “Anatomy of a Fall,” all of which were also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. “Anora” is the first American film to win the Palme d’Or since “The Tree of Life” in 2011.
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