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NEON TO PARTNER WITH DIRECT RELIEF ON “THE YEAR OF THE EVERLASTING STORM” TO ADVANCE COVID-19 RELIEF EFFORTS WORLDWIDE

The NEON Original Production is making its World Premiere today at Cannes

NEON announced today that they are partnering with Direct Relief for its upcoming anthology feature, The Year of the Everlasting Storm, and will donate to the organization's worldwide Covid-19 relief efforts. The film is making its World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival today as part of the Special Screening section and will be released theatrically later this year.

As many wealthy countries are able to reunite and celebrate in Cannes this week, many more countries are not able to participate due to the global disparity in how vaccines are being developed and distributed. 

NEON’s donation will support real-time Covid-19 direct response and assistance through the distribution of funds, tests, supplies, and vaccines to the countries and areas that are hardest hit worldwide.

The film is helmed by internationally acclaimed filmmakers Jafar Panâhi, Anthony Chen, Malik Vitthal, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayor, David Lowery and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.  Featuring seven stories from seven auteurs from around the world, The Year of the Everlasting Storm chronicles this unprecedented moment in time and is a true love letter to the power of cinema and its storytellers.   Brad Becker-Parton, Andrea Roa, and Jeff Deutchman produced, with Panâhi, Tom Quinn and David Kaplan serving as Executive Producers.

"Our partnership with Direct Relief builds on the mission we started with when we embarked on this project - creating global collaboration and connection during an unprecedented moment in history” remarked producer, Jeff Deutchman. 

The Year of the Everlasting Storm joins two other NEON titles that are premiering at Cannes this year, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria starring Tilda Swinton and Julia Ducournau’s Titane.   The company’s upcoming slate also includes Pablo Larrain’s Spencer, Jamila Wignot’s Ailey, Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman, and Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee, executive produced by Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

About Direct Relief:

A humanitarian organization committed to improving the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies, Direct Relief delivers life-saving medical resources throughout the world to communities in need—without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay. For more information, please visit https://www.DirectRelief.org.

About NEON:

In just four years, NEON has garnered 12 Academy Award® nominations, 5 wins, including Best Picture, and has grossed over $150M at the box office. The company continues to push boundaries and take creative risks on bold cinema such as Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, which made history winning four Academy Awards®, becoming the first non-English-language film to claim Best Picture. The film, which also unanimously won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, has amassed over $53M at the domestic box office and broke multiple records including highest per screen average of the year and highest per screen average for a foreign language film of all time. NEON has amassed a library of over 50 films with noteworthy releases including: Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov’s award-winning and record-breaking Honeyland, which is the first non-fiction feature to land Academy Award® nominations for Best Documentary and Best International Feature Film in the same year; Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11, 2019's highest grossing documentary with a worldwide gross of $16M; Tim Wardle's Three Identical Strangers, winner of the Sundance Special Jury Award for Storytelling which surpassed $13M at the box office; and Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya, which garnered multiple Academy Award® nominations, one win for Allison Janney and amassed over $30M in domestic box office.

The company has several projects in various stages of development and production, including Pablo Larraín’s Spencer starring Kristen Stewart; Ben Wheatley's Horror Film In The Earth which recently made its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival; and The Painter and the Thiefnarrative remake.  NEON continues to be an impressive force, with recent acquisitions such as: Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman; Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee, executive produced by Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau; Jamila Wignot’s Ailey; R.J. Cutler’s Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry; Venice's Grand Jury Prize Winner Michel Franco's New Order; Gunda directed by Victor Kossakovsky and executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix; and Robert Machoian’s powerful thriller The Killing of Two Lovers.  Recent releases include: Night of the Kings, Philippe Lacôte’s Ivory Coast Oscar Submission; Andrei Konchalovsky’s Dear Comrades!,Russia’s Academy Award Submission; Apollo 11: Quarantine, the new short film from director/producer Todd Douglas Miller;  Francis Lee’s romantic drama Ammonite starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan; Alex’s Gibney’s documentary Totally Under Control; Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor; Justin Simien’s Bad Hair; Max Barbakow’s sought after Palm Springs starring Andy Samberg, which NEON acquired with Hulu; Amy Seimetz’s SXSW critical sensation She Dies Tomorrow; Josephine Decker’s Shirley starring Elisabeth Moss; Matt Wolf’s highly acclaimed Sundance documentary Spaceship Earth; The Painter and the Thief directed by Benjamin Ree; and the critically acclaimed Cannes hit Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes® and Independent Spirit Awards.

After their successful collaboration on I, Tonya in January 2018, 30WEST (Dan Friedkin's and Micah Green's strategic venture) partnered with NEON's Tom Quinn (Founder & CEO) and Tim League (Co-Founder) to become majority investors in the company.