Variety reports that A24 has picked up the distribution rights to The Florida Project, the latest film from Tangerine director Sean Baker. Starring Willem Dafoe and newcomer Bria Vinaite, the film weaves in and out of the lives of the poverty-stricken people living out of a gaudily colored hotel in Kissimmee, the “Florida project” of the title.
Showing out of competition at Cannes, The Florida Project has been a quiet critical hit. Our own A.A. Dowd held it up as one of the festival’s first major success stories, calling it, “Sublime: a blast of life, of celebratory highs and lamentable lows, on the outer economic edges of the Sunshine State.”
A number of indie-minded studios were reportedly circling Baker’s film, but dropped out once the price tag rose over $1 million. For context, the heavily lauded Tangerine, which Baker shot exclusively on iPhones, only brought in about $700,000 at the domestic box office when it debuted in 2015.