ANORA - criterion COLLECTION

Music composed for the official Criterion Collection release of Anora, Sean Baker's Palme d'Or–winning film.

THE PROJECT

Anora arrived at Criterion following its sweep of the 2024 awards season, including the Palme d'Or at Cannes and Best Picture at the Academy Awards. As part of the home release, Criterion commissioned a behind-the-scenes making-of feature — and I was brought on to compose original music for it.

My brief covered two cues: an intro and closing credits. Short in duration, but high in stakes — these were the musical bookends for an official release on one of cinema's most respected labels.

THE APPROACH

Sean Baker's films have always resisted easy categorization, and his music choices reflect that. Rather than reaching for conventional documentary underscore, I wanted the music to feel like it belonged in Baker's world — idiosyncratic, emotionally direct, and a little unexpected.

The approach was to blend pop and electronic elements with more cinematic writing: music that could feel intimate and grounded one moment, and open up into something larger the next. The goal wasn't to imitate the film's existing score, but to capture the spirit behind it — the same sensibility that makes Baker's work feel so distinctly his own.

Anora is available now from the Criterion Collection.