A24 Buys Explicit Sundance Movie ‘Pleasure’ About L.A. Porn Business

A24 has acquired U.S. rights to “Pleasure,” an explicit drama about the adult film industry, following its premiere at the virtual Sundance Film Festival.

A24 will release the full uncensored film, as well as an R-rated version, later this year.

Directed by Ninja Thyberg, “Pleasure” takes a look at the Los Angeles porn industry through the lens of newcomer Bella Cherry (portrayed by Sofia Kappel), who moves from a small town in Sweden to pursue her dreams of stardom.

Variety’s chief film critic Owen Gleiberman praised “Pleasure,” calling it an “intentionally stark” and “disturbingly authentic” look at what the porn industry has become.

“A movie like “Pleasure” jerks the skeevy, compulsive porn world out of the closet in a way that few movies have,” Gleiberman wrote. “That’s a brave thing to, and what makes it work is that Ninja Thyberg, revealing the instincts of a true filmmaker, uses her characters to discover the things she’s telling us.”

Thyberg made a short film with the same title, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2013 and Sundance the year after, before turning “Pleasure” into a feature-length movie.

Eliza Jones, Markus Waltå, and Erik Hemmendorff produced the film. Pape Boye and Violaine Pichon of Versatile served as executive producers. Leontine Petit and Erik Glijnis of Lemming Film co-produced, along with Peter Possne and Caroline Ljungberg of Film i Väst; Anna Croneman of SVT; and Frédéric Fiore and Eric Tavitian of Logical Pictures.

CAA Media Finance brokered the deal, alongside Versatile, who is also handling international rights.