A24's "Tony," an Anthony Bourdain origin story directed by Matt Johnson and starring Dominic Sessa, opened in limited release across six theatres in New York and Los Angeles for the weekend of August 7, 2026, according to Deadline.

The film zeroes in on the mid-1970s summer when Bourdain was 19 and working as a line cook in Provincetown, per NPR/KVCR. Sessa, who broke out in Alexander Payne's "The Holdovers," plays the young Bourdain. Antonio Banderas appears in the role of "Chef," per the same source. Stavros Halkias also joined the cast, with Deadline reporting in August 2025 that production had wrapped. Variety's review, published July 29, 2026, runs 106 minutes and credits Sessa with his first movie-star performance, per Variety.

A limited release — a handful of screens in top markets before a wider rollout — is standard practice for specialty distributors building word of mouth before expanding. A24 pushed the film on Instagram with a reel of Sessa in character, captioned "Where it all began." American Cinematheque has scheduled a Q&A with Johnson and Sessa, per its Facebook page.

Bourdain has been on screens before. Oscar winner Morgan Neville's documentary "Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain" opened July 16, 2021, per Deadline. "Tony" takes a different road entirely — a scripted, coming-of-age comedy-drama rather than a posthumous portrait.

"Tony" is not alone in the specialty queue. Mubi opened Jane Schoenbrun's horror film "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma" at five New York and Los Angeles theatres the same weekend, per Deadline. The film stars Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson, both Emmy winners, and follows a director making a slasher sequel who becomes obsessed with casting the original film's "final girl," per IMDb. It runs 112 minutes and is a co-production of Canada, the USA, and the UK, per Frameline.

Magnolia Pictures entered the frame with "Late Fame," Kent Jones' second feature starring Willem Dafoe and Greta Lee, opening at Film Lincoln Center and Film Forum in New York. Samy Burch wrote the screenplay, per Deadline. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival, per Magnolia's Facebook.

The wider indie slate, per Deadline's preview, also includes documentaries on cheesemongers, Girl Scout cookie season, and small-town movie theatres, plus the annual CatVideoFest — a compilation reel of internet cat videos that tours theatres each summer.

What makes this weekend notable is the sheer range on offer in a handful of screens. A Bourdain biopic, a queer psychosexual slasher with two Emmy winners, and a Venice-premiered drama about art and rediscovery — all opening within days of each other, all vying for the same art-house audience.