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The independent film studio is the David of the Goliaths. This year, the cult label cleared all the important Oscars. His latest coup “Past Lives” is also convincing.
“Past Lives”, the relationship drama between two cultures, has already been shown at festivals such as the Berlinale. The critically acclaimed film is another award-worthy work from A24.
Just this year, the studio won nine Oscars in all important categories – a record. These include the unconventional films “The Whale” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once”.
Legend:
The surprise hit of the last year: the multiverse film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” also convinced at the Oscars.
FILMCOOPI / A24
The latter scooped up seven trophies. A quirky multiverse sci-fi spectacle that revolves around family and cultural issues faced by a Chinese immigrant family in the United States.
From “Moonlight” to “Euphoria”
Film fans have been familiar with A24 for a long time. The independent studio from New York has been distributing and producing cinema and TV productions since it was founded in 2012. From Oscar winners such as “Room” or “Moonlight” to the award-winning series “Euphoria”, the studio has received almost 50 Oscar nominations and won 16 of the coveted trophies.
Your films are not big mainstream hits, mostly had a relatively small production budget and like to offend thematically. Like her first hit “Spring Breakers”: A film like a hallucinogenic trip with Disney stars Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens as heavily armed gangster girls in bikinis.
A film studio as a cult brand
Films like “Springbreakers” are particularly popular with young viewers. The studio is also targeting a Gen-Z audience with its viral marketing strategy.
While the major studios announce their films with expensive advertising campaigns, A24 relies on social media hype and cult following from the start. The horror film “Pearl” triggered a Halloween trend on TikTok and Instagram.
In addition, the studio offers limited fan articles from films, which are often quickly sold out due to their exclusivity. There are shorts, t-shirts and hoodies with the A24 logo. For five dollars a month, you can become part of an A24 community that gives you first access to new products. The studio has thus succeeded in giving their brand a kind of cult status.
The talent factory
What the studio saves on expensive advertising campaigns, it invests in the willingness to take risks in the production of its films.
Legend:
The main character of «Past Lives» lives as an author in New York and is happily married. But then she meets her childhood love Hae Sung again.
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In addition to big names, A24 also works with many newcomers, such as the “Past lives” director Celine Wong. She appreciated the creative freedom when making her first film, she explains: “I had the feeling that I had full control over my film.”
Swept under the rug
Is A24 generally a guarantee for successful and good films? Nearly. Like any other studio, A24 occasionally produces flops. But you hardly notice anything about them because they don’t announce missteps or don’t even make it to the cinema, but are secretly placed on TV or with streaming providers. Only recently even A24’s most expensive production “Beau Is Afraid” failed at the box office.
But since this year’s Oscar rain at the latest, the once small company from New York has risen from David to Goliath in Hollywood. It remains exciting to see whether and for how long the studio will remain independent and make great cinema with small films.