Kinky Romance ‘Pillion’ Starring Alexander Skarsgard, Harry Melling Sells to Multiple Territories

Cornerstone has closed a slew of new territorial deals for Harry Lighton’s Cannes official selection Pillion after the film sold to A24 for the U.S. market.

The kinky romancer that launched at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section has been sold to Weltkino (Germany, Austria), iWonder (Italy), Praasens (Switzerland), MCF (the territory formerly known as Yugoslavia), Gutek (Poland), Lusomondo (Portugal), New Cinema (Israel) and Diamond for Latin America.

Described as a “funny, filthy romance,” Pillion sees Skarsgard play Ray, an ”impossibly handsome leader of a bike gang” who takes on Colin (Melling), a weedy wallflower, to be his new submissive. Ray uproots Colin from his dreary suburban life and introduces him to a community of kinky, queer bikers. But as Colin dives deeper into Ray’s world, he begins to question whether the life of a 24/7 submissive is really for him. 

Lighton, who makes his feature directorial debut with the film, won the Un Certain Regard Award for best screenplay in Cannes. After the festival’s market, Cornerstone also sold Pillion to Transformers (Japan), Challan (South Korea) and Swallow Wings (Taiwan). Besides the A24 deal for the U.S., Picturehouse will release Pillion in the U.K. and September Film will handle the Benelux release.

Lighton, BAFTA-nominated for his 2017 short Wren Boys, directed Pillion from his own script which is loosely inspired by Adam Mars-Jones’ 2019 novel Box Hill.

Element Pictures, a Fremantle company, produced Pillion with financing from BBC Film and the BFI in association with Fremantle, Picturehouse and September Film.