A24 Picks Up Ninja Thyberg’s ‘Pleasure’ About Los Angeles Porn Industry

Sundance 2021: Distributor will release an uncensored version alongside an R-rated version later this year

Pleasure
Courtesy of Sundance Institute

A24 has acquired the U.S. rights to “Pleasure,” Ninja Thyberg’s film about the pornography and adult entertainment industry in Los Angeles that was a selection of Cannes 2020 and made its world premiere at Sundance.

A24 will release an R-rated version of the narrative feature film as well as an uncensored version, which is sexually explicit in its examination of the porn industry and the predatory practices of managers and male-dominated sets.

Thyberg’s “Pleasure” stars Sofia Kappel as Bella Cherry, who relocates to LA from Sweden in the hopes of making it in the adult entertainment industry as the world’s next big porn star. In its description of the film, Sundance said that it uses nudity in order to “expose rather than titillate.” The film also features a supporting cast of other actors who have had experience in the porn industry.

In TheWrap’s review of the film, critic Alonso Duralde said that despite its graphic content that shocked Sundance audiences, the film could very well be about any male-dominated industry, particularly one in Hollywood. “It’s not an exposé on what pornography does to women as much as a harrowing examination of what the workplace expects and allows from women and men,” Duralde wrote

“Pleasure” is produced by Plattform Produktion, and the film’s producers are Eliza Jones, Markus Walta, and Erik Hemmendorff. The film’s executive producers are Pape Boye and Violaine Pichon of Versatile. The co-producers are Leontine Petit and Erik Glijnis of Lemming Film, Peter Possne and Caroline Ljungberg of Film i Väst, Anna Croneman of SVT, and Frédéric Fiore and Eric Tavitian of Logical Pictures, as well as Grand Slam Film.

“Pleasure” is Thyberg’s debut feature film after a number of short films, including one that is also titled “Pleasure” that played at Sundance in 2013.

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

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