Award-winning studio NEON announced today that David Laub has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Publicity, where he will work closely with Ryan Werner, NEON’s new President of Global Cinema, further strengthening NEON’s position as a champion of bold, auteur-driven filmmaking. In this newly created role, Laub will bring his years of experience in marketing, publicity, and awards to NEON’s growing slate.
Before joining NEON, Laub served as Head of Metrograph Pictures from February 2024 through July 2025. During his time at Metrograph, he acquired and released such films as India Donaldson’s highly acclaimed feature debut “Good One,” which played both Sundance and Cannes and was on over 100 year-end top ten lists; Cannes selection “Santosh,” which was on the shortlist for this year’s International Oscar award; and the highly lauded Venice prize-winner “April,” by Dea Kulumbegashvilli.
David spent almost 9 years at film and television studio A24, where he worked in all aspects of film distribution including marketing, publicity, acquisitions, and exhibition. David oversaw a slate of films for the company that included Charlotte Wells’ two-time Academy Award nominee “Aftersun,” Lukas Dhont’s International Film Oscar contender “Close,” Kelly Reichardt’s highly acclaimed, award-winning “First Cow” and “Showing Up,” Joanna Hogg’s critically beloved The Souvenir and The Souvenir: Part II, Claire Denis’ High Life, Paul Schrader’s Oscar nominated First Reformed, and the recent re-release of the Talking Heads seminal concert film “Stop Making Sense.” David also worked on the campaigns of such as other well-known A24 titles as Daniels’ “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project,” Josh and Benny Safdie’s “Uncut Gems,” Ari Aster’s “Hereditary” and “Midsommar,” Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird,” Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” and Robert Eggers’ “The Witch.”
“David Laub has a tremendous passion for film,” said Ryan Werner, NEON’s President of Global Cinema, “Finding someone as strategic, curious and experienced was important to me. All of us at NEON are extremely happy to welcome him and look forward to many successful campaigns.”
“I’m incredibly excited to join NEON, and to work closely with the team to create strong and unique campaigns for these amazing movies,” said Laub. “I am in awe of the films they release and will be releasing, and couldn’t be more thrilled or humbled to work on such bold, exciting, and brilliant movies with such smart and wonderful collaborators.”
NEON is behind Sean Baker’s “Anora” starring Mikey Madison which took home five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress and its theatrical release opened to the highest per-screen average of 2024.
In Cannes this year, NEON earned its sixth consecutive Palme d’Or win with Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident” and also acquired North American rights to Jury Prize winner “Sirât” from Oliver Laxe; “The Secret Agent” from Best Director winner Kleber Mendonça Filho and starring Best Actor winner Wagner Moura; and Ugo Bienvenu’s animated adventure “Arco” produced by Natalie Portman and winner of the Cristal Award at Annecy. Heading into Venice, Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice,” which NEON boarded earlier this year, will make its world premiere and at TIFF, NEON is presenting four films in Official Selection including “The Secret Agent,” “It Was Just An Accident,” “Sirât,” and “Sentimental Value.”
About NEON
In only eight years, NEON has garnered 39 Academy Award nominations (7 this year), 11 total wins (5 this year), including two Best Picture wins, and has grossed over $400M at the box office. The company continues to push boundaries and take creative risks on bold cinema such as Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which recently took home five Academy Awards including Best Picture, and was released in theaters to the highest per-screen average of 2024; as well as Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” which made history winning four Academy Awards, becoming the first non-English-language film to claim Best Picture, and grossed over $54M at the domestic box office.
NEON has built an impressive streak winning the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, with six consecutive wins, including this most recent year’s winner “It Was Just an Accident” from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, as well as “Anora,” “Parasite,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Titane,” and “Triangle of Sadness.” In 2024, NEON was named The Hollywood Reporter’s Independent Studio of the Year and received the Clio Award for Studio of the Year.
Recent NEON releases include Mike Flanagan’s “The Life of Chuck” and Osgood Perkins’ horror film “The Monkey,” both of which are based on the short stories by Stephen King. “The Monkey” marked NEON’s second biggest opening weekend at the box office following Perkins’ “Longlegs,” which is the highest grossing independent film of the year at $75 million domestically.
As a burgeoning leader in the production space, NEON’s recent and upcoming in-house productions include: David Robert Mitchell’s “They Follow” starring Maika Monroe; Michael Covino’s “Splitsville” starring Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona; the highly anticipated Boots Riley feature “I Love Boosters” starring Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, LaKeith Stanfield, Demi Moore, and Eiza González; “The Wrong Girls” starring Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat; Tilman Singer’s “Cuckoo” starring Hunter Schafer; and Brandon Cronenberg’s “Infinity Pool.” NEON’s international sales outfit handles the company’s in-house titles as well as third party projects.
NEON has amassed a library of over 120 films, with a noteworthy selection of Academy Award nominated films including: Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig;” Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days;” “Robot Dreams” from Pablo Berger; documentaries “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Fire of Love, Moonage Daydream, and Flee,” which made history becoming the first film to score an impressive trifecta of Oscar nominations; Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in The World;” and Craig Gillespie’s “I, Tonya.”