Indie films opening October 18 include Cannes Palme d'Or winner Anora.

Neon opens Anorathe fifth consecutive Cannes Palm d'Or winner, is out in limited release this weekend – the highest-profile awards contender to hit theaters for a busy special weekend this awards season.

Sean Baker's comedy debuts on six screens in New York (Lincoln Center, Angelika, Alamo Brooklyn) and LA (Grove, Century City and Burbank). Select screenings will be shown in the film's original 35mm format at the three New York locations. Pre-sales have been solid and Neon will add San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Toronto next week, followed by a wider release in mid-to-late November.

AnoraThe ensemble cast of Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yuriy Borisov, Karren Karagulian and Vache Tovmasyan in a comical twist on a modern Cinderella story is well received by audiences. Critics loved the film with a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (see Deadline review), a similar development to Neon's 2019 Palme d'Or winner parasite.

Baker, who also wrote the screenplay, is a big supporter of theater and, along with the cast, actively supported the film.

In a fusion of art and commerce, Neon's enjoyed theatrical success with its Croisette victories Triangle of sadness in 2022 until Anatomy of a fall last year. The award is a seal of approval and an important motivator for art house fans and helps make films accessible to a wider audience. Neons titaniuma more ambitious film, won the main prize at Cannes in 2021.

The film stars Mikey Madison (Once upon a time in Hollywood) as Ani, a young sex worker from Brooklyn whose life takes an unexpected turn when she meets and impulsively marries Vanya, the impetuous son of a Russian billionaire. When Vanya's parents find out about the marriage, they send their henchmen to annul the marriage and begin a wild chase through the streets of New York.

Anora is Baker's eighth writing and directing effort, with previous titles including ” Red rocket (2021), The Florida Project (2017) and mandarin (2015).

“There are few filmmakers as deserving as Sean,” said an executive at a rival distributor. “Every person in the indie space who is interested in cinema is rooting for him, regardless of whether they are a competitor or not.”

Starring Michael Keaton Goodrich from Ketchup Entertainment, written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer (Back home) launches today on just over 1,000 screens. Keaton stars as Andy Goodrich, whose life is turned upside down when his wife (Laura Benanti) and mother of their nine-year-old twins enters a 90-day rehab program, leaving him alone with their young children. Goodrich is thrust into the world of modern parenthood and leans on his daughter from his first marriage, Grace (Mila Kunis), as he eventually evolves into the father Grace never had. Starring Andie MacDowell, Carmen Ejogo, Kevin Pollak and Michael Urie. See Deadline Check.

Roadside Attractions opens Show forgiveness in moderate release on 774 screens. Contemporary painter Titus Kaphar's feature film debut stars André Holland, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, John Earl Jelks and Andra Day, who also releases her original song “Bricks,” which she wrote and performed for the film.

Tarrell (Holland) is an admired American painter who lives with his wife, singer Aisha (Day), and their young son. (Tarrell's artwork in the film is Kaphar's own.) His path to success is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father La'Ron (Jelks), a remorseful man desperate for reconciliation.

Show forgiveness premiered at Sundance ( Deadline review here ) and sits at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a little awards buzz. Roadside's marketing efforts included building a special screening room at the Gagosian Gallery in LA, surrounded by Kaphar's artwork.

Rumors From Bleecker Street, directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson and starring Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, Roy Dupuis, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Charles Dance, is being released in over 600 cinemas. World premiere at Cannes and screened at TIFF, New York Film Festival and BFI London.

An interplay between comedy and apocalyptic horror, Rumors follows the seven leaders of the world's richest democracies at the annual G7 summit as they attempt to craft a preliminary declaration on a global crisis. Premiere in Cannes. Deadline's review called it “a smart, sharp and quirky satire.”

documentary union by Stephen Maing and Brett Story (Adam McKay is executive producer), premiering at New York's IFC Center and self-distributed by Level Ground Productions. The Sundance Special Jury Award-winning documentary follows a group of ordinary workers who made history on April 1, 2022 by successfully winning their election to become the first-ever unionized Amazon workplace in the U.S. – in what is considered the most important victory for labor since the 1930s.

This feat would be extraordinary for any union, let alone the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), which had no prior organizing experience, no institutional support, and a total budget raised on GoFundMe of $120,000. The document captures the ALU's historic grassroots campaign to unionize thousands of its employees. From day one, when it organized against a major corporate power and legal protections for workers had drastically diminished, the odds were against the ALU, but this ragtag ensemble remains unfazed by its belief in collective action and the dignity and power of the ALU working class.

Just played the New York Film Festival.

“Utopia” opens Ethan Berger’s film debut, a brotherhood drama The line starring Alex Wolff at New York's Regal Union Square and will expand to approximately 35-50 screens and possibly more in select theaters nationwide in November. Written by Berger and Alex Russek. Premiering at Tribeca, see Deadline review. Wolff (Oppenheimer, A Quiet Place: Day One, Hereditary) plays Tom, a scholarship student desperate to break free from his working-class background and increasingly seduced by sorority life at Kappa Nu Alpha. He is torn between a romance with a classmate, played by Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid) outside of his social circle and the manipulative scheming of his fraternity president (Lewis Pullman), as the bullying of new pledges gets into dangerous places during the inevitable “Hell Week.” Justin Abrams, Bo Mitchell, Cheri Oteri, Scoot McNairy, Denise Richards and John Malkovich also star. The late Angus Cloud plays the role of the stoner in his final film appearance.

The credits pay tribute to the horrific death caused by the hazing of Timothy Piazza at Penn State University.

Beach release opens floodthe feature film directorial debut of writer and director Marco Calvani, starring Brazilian lead actor Marco Pigossi in his first English-language film, starring James Bland and Marisa Tomei.

Heartbroken and helpless, undocumented Brazilian immigrant Lourenço searches for meaning in the queer mecca of Provincetown. As the summer season comes to an end, he sparks an intense and unexpected romance with Maurice. Together the two reconcile their past and their uncertain future. Premiering at SWSX (with a 100% RT critics rating across 11 reviews) and premiering at the IFC Center in NYC. It's expanding to Los Angeles (Laemmle's Royal, NoHo 7) next Friday and adding more cities in November.

Extension: A24 We live in time expands in a big way to 955 theaters, with John Crowley's groundbreaking indie romance starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh achieving a 98% audience rating. The film has grossed $820,000, including $226,000 in its opening weekend in five theaters in New York and Los Angeles and $500,000 on Thursday. The audience is predominantly female and under 35 years old, largely due to the star's star power but also the duo's support on social media.

Documentary by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan Nocturnes by Grasshopper Films opens at Metrograph. This visually stunning look at the nocturnal life of moths, with Sundance-winning immersive sound design, explores the beauty and fragility of nature.

Netflix opens documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin limited to NY, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Expanding to LA and San Francisco next week. The film by Benjamin Ree (The painter and the thief) premiered at Sundance. The subject is Mats Steen, a Norwegian player who died at the age of 25 from a degenerative muscle disease. His parents mourned what they said was a lonely and isolated life as they received messages from online friends around the world. Next week on the streamer.