Vantage Media Picks Up North American Rights to Polish Pole-Dancing Drama 'Exotic'
Vantage Media has acquired North American rights to Exotic, a Polish pole-dancing drama, and the film has released its first international trailer. Deadline reported the deal on 27 October 2026. In plain terms, Vantage Media can now release the film in the United States and Canada.
The story follows a woman on a journey of self-discovery through pole dancing. It is the first feature from director Sonja Orlewicz-Zakrzewska. Jaśmina Polak, Magdalena Koleśnik and Monika Frajczyk star.
The film got its start with help from the Polish Film Institute, which backed it through a microbudget scheme. That is a small-budget fund aimed at first-time directors. To give the performances a real setting, the production was shot during an actual edition of the Exo Stars Camp, a pole-dancing event, with genuine participants and instructors taking part.
The film's road to buyers began in the spring. In April, Deadline reported that Pluto Film, a Berlin-based sales company, had acquired international rights to the film and was taking it to the Cannes market. Sales companies sell films to cinemas and streaming services in other countries, so that role is how a film finds its audience beyond its home market.
The North American deal was negotiated by Jessica Russo of VMI Worldwide and Vantage Media, and by Daniel Vadocky of Pluto Film. Gutek is handling the release in Poland.
Next up is a festival premiere. Exotic will debut in the First Feature Competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, in Estonia. The 30th edition runs from 6 to 22 November 2026, according to the festival. Competition screenings take place from 13 to 19 November, the festival said in an October announcement. Variety reported that the official selection and first features competitions together include 21 world premieres.
Festivals like Tallinn are where films meet the people who decide where they will be seen. Premieres draw sales agents, distributors and buyers, and a film's first public screening often sets the terms of its next deals. For Exotic, the sequence so far runs from a sales deal in April to a North American distributor and a festival slot in November. The trailer now gives audiences their first look at the film ahead of that screening.
