EXCLUSIVE: Robert Lantos-produced lesbian romance Maya & Samar, whose NC-17 rating generated some heat late last year, has secured U.S. distribution with Quiver.
The film tells the story of a brief yet torrid love affair between a Canadian journalist and a queer Afghan refugee whose lives intersect over the course of several days in Athens.
Directed by Anita Doron, screenwriter of Oscar nominated The Breadwinner, and written by Tamara Faith Berger, the film stars Nicolette Pearse and Amanda Babaei Vieira, winner of Germany’s Ulrich Wildgruber Prize, in its titular roles.
Doron publicly criticized the MPAA’s NC-17 rating for the film as “shocking” and indicative of repressive sexual politics, arguing that equivalent heterosexual films escape similar restrictions.
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The Serendipity Point Films, January Media, and Distant HorizonShot production was shot in Athens, Greece with co-producer Filmiki. It first premiered at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival before making its theatrical debut in March 2026 across Canada.
Quiver will release the film on VOD platforms across the U.S. on September 4, 2026.
“I hope Maya & Samar reaches into the wildest parts of your heart and connects you across time, place, culture, and identity into a humanist oneness,” Doron said about its new VOD audience. “I hope our film deranges you, like a cinematic tarot card, letting you feel.”
Maya & Samar is produced by Serendipity’s Robert Lantos and Laura Lanktree, as well as January’s Julia Rosenberg. Filmiki’s Nikolas Alavanos is co-producer with Steve Solomos as supervising producer. Distant Horizon’s Anant Singh is an executive producer.
“I hope the conversation that Maya & Samar sparked inside festivals and outside theatres continues at the dinner table of its new audience,” shared Lanktree. “The potency of their emotional and sexual affair, as well as its stunning end, provoke much debate.”
The Canada-Hellenic Republic co-production is produced in association with Telefilm Canada, Greek Film Centre, Distant Horizon, Bell Media, CBC, Ontario Creates, and the Harold Greenberg Fund, with the support of EKOME.
