Tom Quinn landed in the U.K. for a special talk at SXSW London less than two weeks after Neon claimed its seventh consecutive Palme d’Or in Cannes, this time thanks to Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord.”
The exec — whose indie distributor marks only its 10th birthday next year — said the ongoing run of wins was “extraordinary,” but claimed that in each Cannes he had never known whether his films would emerge victorious. And this went all the way back to Neon’s first Palme, Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite.”
“I had no idea that ‘Parasite’ was going to win,” he said.
But that win in Cannes changed everything, Quinn noted.
“It all began with ‘Parasite,’ breaking down 92 years of Oscar history, the first foreign language film, grossing $54 million in the U.S., becoming this huge sensation… it was probably the first foreign language film that a whole host of teenagers saw.”
