Ninja Thyberg’s feature debut has secured distribution following its world premiere at Sundance. A24 acquired U.S. rights to “Pleasure,” a look inside L.A.’s adult film industry, and MUBI snagged major European markets for the explicit title. “A24 will release the full uncensored film, as well as an R-rated version, later this year,” according to Variety.

Penned by Thyberg and Peter Modestij, “Pleasure” tells the story of Bella Cherry (Sofia Kappel), a woman who moves from a small town in Sweden to L.A. in the hopes of becoming a star.

“I’ve been interested in porn as a subject for 20 years now, and for many different reasons,” Thyberg told Collider. “I started out as an anti-porn activist, so that’s how the journey began. There are so many different reasons why this subject fascinates me, and one of the reasons is that it’s taboo and no one wants to talk about it. And also I am very interested in gender roles and media images and how those affect our identities, so when it comes to porn, it’s really very traditional gender roles taken to their most extreme form.”

The writer-director added, “They say that 80 percent of all the traffic on the internet is porn. People consume this insane amount of porn, so of course it’s something that really affects us and is a huge part of our culture, but it exists in a world of shadows. No one wants to talk about it and we don’t really acknowledge it publicly. That’s why I feel like this film really needs to exist, because this is something that exists,” she emphasized.

“Pleasure” originated as a short of the same name, which Thyberg premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. She took home the Canal+ Award for best short film. Her other shorts include “Girls & Boys” and “The Kill.”