Andr Is an Idiot is heading to theaters after making a splash on the festival circuit.

Joint Venture has acquired North American rights for director Tony Bennas documentary feature and will release the movie theatrically, starting with Film Forum in New York City on March 6, 2026, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned. Andr Is an Idiot premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the audience award and the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award in the U.S. documentary competition.

Andr Is an Idiot centers on Andr Ricciardi, who considers himself an idiot for not getting a colonoscopy. Over the course of the movie, he remains determined to approach his terminal cancer diagnosis with levity. The project uses stop-motion animation to bring Ricciardis stories to life. In addition to its Sundance success, the movie won the Audience Favorite for Documentary at the Mill Valley Film Festival and the Special Documentary Jury Prize for Impactful Storytelling at the Hamptons Film Festival.

When Andr approached me to direct what he called a comedy about his cancer, I was taken aback but also deeply honored that he trusted me to tell such an intimate story, Benna says. Cancer isnt inherently funny, but Andr definitely is. His raw, unapologetic honesty and humor in the face of something so heavy make it impossible not to fall in love with him.

Says Joint Ventures co-founder and CEO Vinay Singh, Andr Is an Idiot is a documentary unlike any weve ever seen. The film is a beautiful portrait about mortality, friendship, fatherhood, and love that plays like a stand-up comedy special.

Joint Venture co-founder and chief creative officer Jess Jacobs adds, Its funny, its colorful, its in your face. Andr Is an Idiot is about something real and challenging, but the story is profoundly human and oozes with joy and humor. Its a celebration of life.

Hailing from A24 Films, Sandbox Films and Safehouse Pictures, Andr Is an Idiot counts Ricciardi, Tory Tunnell, Stelio Kitrilakis, Joshua Altman and Ben Cotner as producers. Executive producing are Nicole Stott, Emily Osborne, Marissa Torres Ericson, Jessica Harrop, Greg Boustead, Joby Harold and Lee Einhorn. The deal was negotiated byMatt Burke, Ben Schwartz and Josh Braunof Submarine Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers and Chris Lane and Becca Leckie on behalf of Joint Venture.

In his review of Andr Is an Idiot for The Hollywood Reporter, critic Daniel Fienberg wrote, Funny, sad and uncomfortable in shifting proportions, the film is at once an urgent public service announcement and a documentary memento mori.