The Criterion Collection has announced their April slate of discs, with one soon-to-be Oscar nominee, Anora, among the titles. Unveiled as spine #1259, Anora could see a little push from voters, especially as voting has been pushed back to January 17th due to the ongoing fires in Los Angeles. While Anora won’t actually see the streets until April 29th, the announcement alone could give it even more prestige for voters.

Anora wouldn’t be the first time that Criterion announced titles that neatly coincided with the Academy Awards. Two of the biggest stand-outs of recent years were The Grand Budapest Hotel and Parasite, with Wes Anderson’s film being revealed in January when Academy Award nominations are traditionally announced and Bong Joon-ho’s picture being promoted just a few days before final voting closed.

Of course, there’s no real scientific proof that Criterion is trying to give Anora a little boost with Oscar voters – and voting was originally set to close on January 12th, days before the announcement – but there’s no harm in letting the buzz generate through the home video aficionados that still remain in Hollywood, especially when the movie has slipped by most barometers. Remember, both The Grand Budapest Hotel and Parasite each took home four Oscars, with the latter winning Best Picture – the label knows what they’re doing. Voting for the Academy Awards is currently scheduled for February 18th with the ceremony itself on March 2nd.

Here is The Criterion Collection’s official synopsis for Anora: “Contemporary cinema’s foremost chronicler of American dreamers and schemers hustling on the margins of capitalist promise, Sean Baker, reaches new heights of mastery with this audacious anti–Cinderella story—a whirlwind neorealist screwball comedy with an aching heart. In an electric, star-is-born performance, Mikey Madison soars as Anora, an enterprising, ferociously foulmouthed Brooklyn erotic dancer and sex worker whose Prince Not-So-Charming comes along in the form of a Russian oligarch’s wild-child son (Mark Eydelshteyn). This is the beginning of a fractured fairy tale—also featuring standout performances from Karren Karagulian, Yura Borisov, and Vache Tovmasyan—that turns the cruel realities of class inside out. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Anora confirms Baker as one of our preeminent auteurs.”

Special features on this Criterion Collection release include a 4K digital remaster supervised by Anora director Sean Baker and producer Alex Coco, along with two commentaries, a making-of documentary, interviews with Baker and star Mikey Madison, footage from the Cannes Film Festival press conference, a Q&A with Madison and actor-stripper Lindsey Normington, deleted scenes, and trailers. The cover art by Bianca Parkes and GrandSon plays off of the poster for Jesús Franco’s Vampyros Lesbos

Other films in Criterion Collection’s April slate include Baker’s own Prince of Broadway (Criterion also released Baker’s Take Out in 2022), Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat and 4K re-releases of Chungking Express and Some Like It Hot.

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