5 Things You Need to Know About Sean Baker’s Latest Film, ‘Anora’ (2025)

Anora

By Dana Noraas

Updated6 days ago

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Anora is an American comedy-drama with a unique flair for romance. The film premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival this past spring, taking the highest award, the Palme d’Or. This is the first American movie to win the title since the 2011 film, The Tree of Life. Not only that, but Anora is the fifth consecutive Palme D’Or winner distributed by Neon in the United States. Previous winners include Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 thriller, Parasite, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, Titane, Triangle of Sadness, and Anatomy of a Fall, the latter two were also nominated for the Best Picture award at the Oscars. If that doesn’t tell you something about this movie, read on to learn everything you need to know about Anora before it hits theaters!

Editor's Note: This piece was updated on October 9, 2024.

5 What Is the Release Date for ‘Anora’?

5 Things You Need to Know About Sean Baker’s Latest Film, ‘Anora’ (3)

Anora will receive its limited theatrical release on October 18, 2024, before expanding into theaters nationwide in November. The film has a runtime of 139 minutes, so make sure to hit the restrooms and go easy on the beverage before watching it if you plan to see it in theaters! After the movie’s theatrical run, Anora should be available to purchase or rent on VOD or stream on Hulu, which hosts the majority of Neon films, such as Ferarri, Anatomy of a Fall, Infinity Pool, and many more!

4 Watch the Trailer for ‘Anora’

After debuting the trailer exclusively in theaters in front of screenings of Longlegs, NEON released the full trailer for Anora online on July 15, 2024. The trailer does a great job of setting the tone of what to expect from Anora. A mixture of drama, comedy, and romance with a unique way of investing viewers in the lives and actions of the main characters. Just like in real life, sometimes you laugh, sometimes you cry, and sometimes you forget to buy more milk.

The second trailer for Anora was released by NEON on October 9, 2024.

3 Who Stars in ‘Anora’?

5 Things You Need to Know About Sean Baker’s Latest Film, ‘Anora’ (4)

Mikey Madison stars as the titular character, as an exotic dancer in New York City. Madison is known best for her role as Max in the television series, Better Things, and has also had large roles in films like Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, and the 2022 film, Scream. She is joined by Russian actor and director, Mark Eidelshtein, as Anora’s love interest, Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov. Vanya’s father and mother are played by Aleksei Serebryakov (Nobody) and Darya Ekamasova (Give Me Liberty), respectively. Anora’s friend and roommate, Vera, is played by The Idea of You’s Ella Rubin, who also had a small role in the miniseries Masters of the Air and the documentary drama, The Girl from Plainville.

Yura Borisov, a Russian actor, plays a character named Igor, who is most likely sent as a bodyguard by Vanya’s father to watch over him while he is in the United States. Additionally, Brittany Rodriguez (Red Rocket) will join the cast as a woman named Dawn, Lindsey Normington (The Idol) as Diamond, Emily Weider as Nikki, and Luna Sofía Miranda as Lulu. Vincent Radwinsky (Four Letter Words) and Paul Weissman (The Final Equation) will play the characters, Jimmy and Nick, respectively.

2 What Is ‘Anora’ About?

5 Things You Need to Know About Sean Baker’s Latest Film, ‘Anora’ (5)

Anora is an unexpectedly upbeat drama that centers on an exotic dancer who lives and performs in a niche neighborhood of New York City with a large population of Russian inhabitants. Because of her ability to speak conversational Russian, her boss, Jimmy (Radwinsky) often sets her up to entertain Russian-speaking clients. One night, she meets Vanya, the son of a powerful Russian oligarch, and the two form an instant connection. Vanya makes her an offer of a large amount of money if she agrees to become exclusive with him while he is in the United States, to which she agrees.

However, as their relationship progresses, Vanya admits to Anora that he won’t be able to stay in the U.S. for much longer… unless he were to get married to an American citizen. Elated, the two of them make a rash decision and decide to elope. All seems well until Vanya’s parents visit him and discover that he has, in their words, “married a prostitute.” As determined as Vanya’s parents are to get his marriage annulled, he and Anora are just as determined to make it work, even if it means being cut off financially from Vanya’s father. According to Variety, the film is a heartfelt and genuine love story that “makes Pretty Woman look like a Disney movie.”

Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

1 Who Is Making ‘Anora’?

5 Things You Need to Know About Sean Baker’s Latest Film, ‘Anora’ (6)

Anora was written and directed by Sean Baker, who has a knack for creating authentic “slice of life” movies that portray people from a large variety of different backgrounds, experiences, and motivations. Born and raised in Summit, NJ, his mother was a teacher and his father was a patent attorney who once represented Sean in a dispute over his 2004 film, Take Out, which centered on an undocumented Chinese immigrant living and working in New York City. More recently, Baker wrote and directed his fifth feature film, Tangerine, which follows a transgender sex worker who discovers that her boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her during the month she spent in jail. Tangerine, which was executive produced by brothers Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass, was shot exclusively on three iPhone 5s smartphones and received much praise for its “groundbreaking filming techniques.”

Since then, Baker has collaborated with the production company, A24, for his sixth feature, The Florida Project, which focused on a precocious 6-year-old girl and her struggling mother who live just outside of Walt Disney World. Before taking on his latest film, Anora, Baker also wrote and directed Red Rocket, a comedic drama set in Texas, where a “washed-up porn star” returns to his hometown to start over, much to the disliking of everyone else who lives there. Sean Baker paints realistic (and sometimes harsh) portraits of American culture in ways that not many people have seen before, but his films resonate with audiences in an organic way that truly makes them feel for and root for the characters that he creates. Anora will be his 7th feature film and promises to impact viewers in the same way. The film is executive produced by Glen Basner (To Catch A Killer), Alison Cohen (The Outfit), Ken Meyer (Dog), Clay Pecorin (Honest Thief), and Milan Popelka (Arrival), and is produced by Alex Coco (Red Rocket), Baker’s wife, Samantha Quan (The Florida Project), and Sean Baker himself.

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