Neon, winner of 6 straight Palmes d'Or, comes into the Cannes Film Festival an unlikely heavyweight

Neon chief and co-founder Tom Quinn has watched the last six Palme d’Or ceremonies from the same spot: gathered with colleagues around a laptop on the breakfast tables at his Cannes hotel.

“I think we upgraded a couple years ago and connected the computer to a TV,” Quinn says. “I wouldn’t want to do it any different.”

Quinn has good reason to keep any good luck charm. In all six of those awards ceremonies, Neon has won the Palme, the prestigious top honor of the Cannes Film Festival. It’s an unparalleled streak for one of the most sought-after prizes in movies, second only to the best picture Oscar. No other studio has ever come close to anything like it.

“No one ever believes it, but we’ve never gone to Cannes thinking we were going to win the Palme d’Or,” Quinn says. “It’s been a surprise every single year.”

When the 79th Cannes Film Festival gets underway Tuesday, Neon — a 60-person company founded in 2017 — rides in as an unlikely heavyweight. It’s backing more than a quarter of the 22 films in competition for the Palme. Its odds of making it seven in a row are good. Some of the most hotly anticipated titles — including Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi's “All of a Sudden,” Korean auteur Na Hong-jin's “Hope” and James Gray’s “Paper Tiger” — are Neon’s.

Altogether, the indie distributor has nine films in Cannes. All, Quinn notes, they signed on for before the films' Cannes invite.

“I hate to break it to everyone but don’t hate us for our good taste,” says Quinn. “Who’s chasing who here? Thierry (Frémaux, Cannes artistic director) is going to make up his own mind and we’re going to make up our own mind. It just so happens that we agree.”

When Frémaux announced the lineup of this year’s festival, he lamented the almost nonexistent presence of Hollywood’s major studios. “When the studios are less present in Cannes, they are less present full stop,” he said.

While studio releases like Warner Bros.’ “One Battle After Another” and Universal’s upcoming “The Odyssey” can be major Oscar players, a wide swath of the most original movies of the past decade have been released by specialty labels like Neon and A24.

Both have risen to prominence at international film festivals like Cannes and at the Oscars by focusing on filmmakers, not IP.

“It’s not rocket science and there’s nothing secret about it,” says Quinn. “It’s pursuing the directors and films we want to be a part of.”

Quinn had worked at Samuel Goldwyn Films and Magnolia Pictures before, in 2011, launching Radius, a boutique label with Harvey Weinstein. Though, at Neon, Quinn expected A24 to be his chief competition, he found himself often bidding against Netflix, on movies like Neon’s first acquisition, the Margot Robbie-led “I, Tonya” and Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.”

“We did not outbid them but we out-passioned them,” says Quinn.

Neon does produce films (like the upcoming “I Love Boosters”), but it largely sticks to distributing movies in North America, often with awards campaigns attached to their releases. It has boarded its Palme d’Or winners — “It Was Just an Accident,” “Anora,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Triangle of Sadness,” “Titane” and “Parasite” — in a variety of ways.

Some were acquired in Cannes. Some, like “Parasite,” Neon boarded at the script stage. Quinn signed up for the body horror freak-out “Titane” even though the script made no sense to him. He just believed in its writer-director Julia Ducournau. In that way, Neon is the ultimate anti-algorithm studio.

And yet faith in filmmakers and good taste have carried Neon to the greatest heights of Hollywood. Both “Parasite” and “Anora” won best picture at the Academy Awards after winning the Palme. Neon nearly swept the best international Oscar category last March, with four of the five nominees: the winning “Sentimental Value,” “Sirāt,” “The Secret Agent” and “It Was Just an Accident.”

“Parasite” famously became the first non-English-language film to win best picture — a triumph for the “1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles,” as Bong Joon Ho noted in his acceptance speech.

Neon, majority owned by Dan Friedkin’s 30West, is far from competing with studio blockbusters at the box office. (Its biggest ticket seller thus far was Osgood Perkins’ “Longlegs,” with $75 million.) But Neon has proved there’s a larger audience than many would have expected for daring, often international cinema.

They are, Quinn says, “agnostic” about where its titles come from, and the company’s small size means they can give each movie a bespoke rollout. And by the end of the year, Neon will gather its releases into a DVD box set, even though many voters don’t have DVD players anymore.

“Audiences are desperate, desperate for creativity,” Quinn says. “Films are not packaged goods. The idea that this art form that is so subjective is treated as a P & L (profit and loss statement), I don’t know how you can make good creative decisions when you’re dealing with billions of debt looming at your door.”

Neon’s slate in Cannes is typically wide-ranging. Also up for the Palme is Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord,” with Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve; Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Sheep in the Box”; and “The Unknown,” by “Anatomy of a Fall” cowriter Arthur Harari. It also has Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Her Private Hell”; Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri’s “Clarissa” and William and David Greaves’ already lauded documentary, “Once Upon a Time in Harlem.”

Some of the movies that escaped Neon’s grasp still irk Quinn. He missed out on Kore-eda’s “Shoplifters,” the Palme winner in 2018.

“The idea that we would have won seven Palmes in a row is completely outlandish,” Quinn says. “But that’s a huge regret.”

People sit on the beach ahead of the 79th Cannes international film festival Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Cannes, southern France. (AP Photo/John Locher)

FILE - Director Julia Ducournau, center, winner of the Palme d'Or for the film "Titane" poses with Vincent Lindon, left, and Agathe Rousselle during a photo call at the 74th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, on July 17, 2021. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Writer-director Ruben Ostlund, winner of the Palme d'Or for "Triangle of Sadness," poses at the 75th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 28, 2022. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Director Bong Joon Ho poses with the Palme d'Or award for the film "Parasite" at the 72nd international film festival, Cannes, southern France on May 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)

FILE - Justine Triet, winner of the Palme d'Or for "Anatomy of a Fall," poses for photographers during a photo call following the awards ceremony at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, on May 27, 2023. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Sean Baker, winner of the Palme d'Or for the film "Anora," appears at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, on May 25, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Director Jafar Panahi, winner of the Palme d'Or for the film "It Was Just an Accident," appears at the awards ceremony photo call at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, on May 24, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)

MONTREAL (AP) — Cole Caufield scored his second goal of the playoffs and added an assist as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-2 in a dominant Game 3 on Sunday night to take a 2-1 lead in their second-round playoff series.

Alex Newhook had two goals, including an empty-netter, and Zachary Bolduc, Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach also scored for Montreal.

Lane Hutson and Jake Evans each had two assists, and Jakub Dobes made 26 saves as the Canadiens won consecutive games for the first time in this season's playoffs.

The Montreal crowd broke into chants of “Do-by! Do-by!” — one of several ovations the rookie goalie received Sunday night — as Dobes burst into laughter from his crease.

“It warms your heart, and I’m really proud to be a Canadien and play for this franchise,” Dobes said. “After the Tampa series, I couldn’t believe some of the things that happened in the city, but it’s so much fun. I’m just happy that the fans are having fun with this as much as we do.”

It is quickly becoming the spring of Dobes in Montreal, though the candid netminder insists he’s still his same old self.

“I’m not a hero, I’m just me. I’m just a goofy goalie who tries to stop pucks,” Dobes said. “I will pretty much go home, eat, watch Game of Thrones and go to bed. I don’t think that’s anything heroic.

“And when it’s time to do my job I will do anything to win and make this franchise happy, make these fans happy.”

Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin each had a goal and an assist for Buffalo, which dropped its first road game of the postseason. Alex Lyon stopped 31 shots in his second straight loss.

The teams split the first two games in Buffalo. The Sabres handed the Canadiens a 4-2 loss in Game 1 before Montreal responded with a 5-1 victory in Game 2.

Game 4 is Tuesday night in Montreal.

“Everyone in the room has better. We still haven’t gotten to what I think is our best game,” Thompson said. “It starts with me, it starts with Dahlin, (Alex) Tuch. There’s more in the tank.”

Minutes after missing an open net, Caufield scored on the power play for his first goal in six games to give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead 6:05 into the second and kick off a wild, four-goal period.

Hutson deked around a stick-less Jordan Greenway and dropped a pass to Caufield, who scored into the gaping net as the crowd erupted.

The Canadiens appeared to gain a 3-1 lead one minute later when Josh Anderson’s backhand trickled through Lyon as Phillip Danault crashed the crease. The officials, however, ruled no goal.

Bolduc ultimately gave the Canadiens a two-goal advantage at 10:43 in the second after Joe Veleno chased down a puck behind Sabres defenseman Logan Stanley and set him up.

Chaos ensued two minutes later when Beck Malenstyn ran over Dobes, setting off a massive scrum and sending the Canadiens on a power play. Slafkovsky made it 4-1 with a deflection on Hutson’s point shot as Montreal went 2 for 5 with the man advantage.

Dahlin cut into the deficit with 5:14 left in the second period, sending a shot off the far post.

But Dach restored the three-goal lead at 8:46 in the third when he pulled a loose puck out from under Lyon and fired a shot into the open net.

The goal followed multiple key saves from Dobes, twice denying Zach Benson, as the Canadiens fended off a Sabres pushback that included a nervy penalty kill early in the period.

Newhook, who also scored twice in Game 2, added his second when he was hooked with a clear path to the empty net with 4:46 left in the third.

Large crowds packed the surrounding streets hours ahead of the game. Kirk Muller carried the ceremonial torch before puck drop of the Canadiens’ first second-round playoff game before a full Bell Centre since 2015.

Thompson wasted little time to — temporarily — quiet the crowd, opening the scoring 53 seconds in after Dahlin’s point shot deflected off the end boards and onto his stick. He ended a seven-game drought after going minus-4 with a costly turnover in Game 2.

“We started off really good,” Thompson said. “There were spurts throughout the game where I thought we got to our game and played to our standard, but just not consistent enough, and we gave them life.

“The building is pretty rocking, so it’s a little deflating.”

Newhook sparked a run of four unanswered goals by the Canadiens.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres scuffle in the crease behind Buffalo Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon (34) during the first period of Game 3 in a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Buffalo Sabres' Tage Thompson (72) scores on Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) as Canadiens' Juraj Slafkovsky (20) defends during the first period of Game 3 in a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Buffalo Sabres' Alex Tuch (89) tries to tip the puck past Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) during the first period of Game 3 in a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon (34) makes a save against Montreal Canadiens' Cole Caufield (13) during the first period of Game 3 in a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Cole Caufield (13) reacts after scoring against Buffalo Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon, second from left,during the second period of Game 3 in a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)