Neon, the small studio that unearths Palmes d’Or

A few weeks before the Cannes kick-off, Neon acquired “Anora”, the raw and often hilarious story of a New York erotic dancer who marries on a whim the son of a Russian oligarch .

And 5! The tiny American film studio Neon confirmed, on Saturday May 25, its reputation as a Palme d’Or unearther by winning the distribution rights to the 2024 Palme d’Or, Anora by Sean Baker. “The dream team”, tweeted the studio, with the winners of the last five Palmes d’Or, all distributed in the United States as part of agreements concluded during the Cannes Film Festival (“2024 Sean Baker/2023 Justine Triet/2022 Ruben Östlund/2021 Julia Ducournau/2019 Bong Joon Ho).

The company buys, and more recently produces, films which it then distributes to cinemas while running marketing and awards campaigns.

A few weeks before the Cannes kick-off, Neon acquired Anora, the raw and often hilarious story of a New York erotic dancer who marries the son of a Russian oligarch on a whim. The start of the problems.

Last week, a few days after its director fled Iran, the studio also discreetly got its hands on The seeds of the wild fig tree, the story of an investigating judge sinking into paranoia when demonstrations break out in the capital Tehran. Mohammad Rasoulof, its director, received a special jury prize at Cannes for this film. Another trophy. Neon founder Tom Quinn first spent decades working on independent films before striking out on his own.

In 2016, it struck a deal with Chinese company Sparkle Roll Media, run by cinema legend Jackie Chan. Their first work is Colossal, a weird sci-fi film starring Anne Hathaway. Neon was officially launched the following year. The comedy I, Tonya, starring Margot Robbie, quickly achieved critical success.

After the election of Donald Trump, Chinese investors quickly withdrew, replaced by Texan billionaire Dan Friedkin. But film purchasing remained in the hands of Tom Quinn, who had worked for years and on numerous films with South Korean Bong Joon-ho. “No matter what he did next, it would be a Neon movie,” Tom Quinn said in a recent interview, saying he was ready to break the bank. This film turned out to be Parasite. It not only won the Palme d’Or in 2019 but also became the first non-English-language feature film to win the Oscar for best film.

Since then, Cannes has established itself as an ideal hunting ground for the group, which today has around 55 employees. He then spotted Titanium, almost two years before he won the Palme d’Or in 2021. Neon, still in the light.