Notícias

Times may be bleak, but at least we’ll be getting to spend more time in the horrific, not-too-far-off-from-our-own-world Gilead of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Not only will the show be returning in April for its sixth and final season, but a spin-off series based on author Margaret Atwood’s 2019 sequel, “The Testaments,” is also in the works at Hulu. While Ann Dowd has already been revealed to be reprising her role of Aunt Lydia, joined by new cast members Chase Infiniti, Rowen Blanchard, and Lucy Halliday, IndieWire can exclusively announce that actress/writer/director Amy Seimetz will also be appearing in the show as a series regular.

A source close to the project shared that Seimetz will be playing Paula, step-mother to Agnes, the daughter of June Osborne (Elizabeth Moss) and Luke Bankole (O-t Fagbenle), formerly known as Hannah. In the novel version of “The Testaments,” which is set 15 years after “The Handmaid’s Tale,...

Hand-labeled VHS tapes line the shelves of the living room where Conor Marsh (Albert Birney), a 36-year-old man living alone with his dog Sandy in 1987 Baltimore, spends many hours watching late-night horror movies and broadcast programs he’s recorded on a setup composed of three stacked Ctr TV sets. This analog library of thrilling fictions and ephemeral images preserved on tape is part of the bevy of references in “Obex,” a miniature epic of melancholic whimsy endearingly conceived in black-and-white with a lo-fi aesthetic.

This ingenious fantasy about the perils of finding comfort in screens while avoiding flesh-and-blood connections is the product of the close artistic partnership between Birney — who wrote, directed, edited and stars — and Pete Ohs, credited as the cinematographer, co-writer and co-editor. Together, Birney and Ohs are also behind most of the modest, yet sagaciously employed visual effects. The result of their joint artistic labor amounts to...

A kite shaped like a horse, a cicada-filled Baltimore world, and a black-and-white aesthetic almost perversely hooked on its own disaffected weirdness — writer/director Albert Birney’s “Obex” is a surreal, early-’90s’-esque odyssey into its main character’s (also played by Birney) addiction to his vintage Mac and inability to form actual human connections. With the lo-fi scrappiness of a dot matrix printer and the hallucinatory male-specific anxiety of David Lynch‘s “Eraserhead,” “Obex” tells the story of an awkward-under-his-skin computer programmer named Conor who escapes dreary black-and-white Baltimore into a fantasy world to defeat a demon named Ixaroth.

Birney, who previously co-directed the sci-fi adventure rom-com “Strawberry Mansion” with Kentucker Audley, writes, directs and stars in the movie as Conor Marsh. Living alone with his dog Sandy, he makes custom dot matrix printer photo reproductions for money over the post, while a neighbor Mary (Callie Hernandez) brings...

A scene late in Albert Birney’s Obex cuts tenderly to the heart of our growing nostalgia for analog forms of technology. Conor (Birney), an awkward man in his 30s, is having a fireside chat with Victor (Frank Moseley), who’s quite literally a bulky 1980s-era television set with a human body. Victor says that Conor looks familiar, and then the context hits him: He was the family TV in Conor’s childhood home, purchased by Conor’s father. While the family watched Victor, he also watched over them. Conor, who lost his father as a child, is reassured by Victor, who says that the dead man loved his son very much.

This moment is staged by Birney in the same tone as many of Obex’s most moving scenes: with a wry absurdity that at once parodies and honors Conor’s tunnel vision. Victor is an artifact of Conor’s past,...

Albert Birney has been busy since 2020. On top of releasing 2022’s Eyeballs in the Darkness, a second feature in his series about a pair of 8-bit inspired animated best friends, Tux and Fanny, in, after releasing a video game incarnation of those characters the year before, and premiering his second collaboration with Kentucker Audley, Strawberry Mansion, Birney has now completed his first live-action film as a solo director. Obex started its humble, black-and-white production with resources Birney had on hand: his house, his bulldog-chihuahua-pug mix (what he calls a “Bullchug”) Dorothy and his affinity for the ‘80s technology of […]

The post “I Grew Up Playing Nintendo”: Albert Birney on Obex first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Albert Birney has been busy since 2020. On top of releasing 2022’s Eyeballs in the Darkness, a second feature in his series about a pair of 8-bit inspired animated best friends, Tux and Fanny, in, after releasing a video game incarnation of those characters the year before, and premiering his second collaboration with Kentucker Audley, Strawberry Mansion, Birney has now completed his first live-action film as a solo director. Obex started its humble, black-and-white production with resources Birney had on hand: his house, his bulldog-chihuahua-pug mix (what he calls a “Bullchug”) Dorothy and his affinity for the ‘80s technology of […]

The post “I Grew Up Playing Nintendo”: Albert Birney on Obex first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Olivia West Lloyd's movie "Somewhere Quiet," which had a limited theatrical run in February of this year, is told through the unreliable perspective of Meg (Jennifer Kim), who recently escaped from a traumatic kidnapping. Meg joins her husband Scott (Kentucker Audley) at his isolated family compound in Cape Cod in an attempt to heal, but she keeps emotionally spiraling. This movie leaves a lot of breadcrumbs, but the audience is never able to follow the trail to a solid destination. The gritty details of Meg's abduction — what exactly happened and why — are never fully revealed. What we do know is that Meg's husband is terribly unsupportive, constantly dismissing her upset feelings. He mocks her fears of eating after the kidnapper poisoned her food and insists that she write in her journal instead of talking to him. All of this suggests that he might be hiding something.

Since "Somewhere Quiet...

This article is part of IndieWire’s 2000s Week celebration. Click here for a whole lot more.

Let’s get it out of the way: it’s a stupid name. A tossed-off joke made at a bar during the 2005 edition of SXSW. Sound editor and former indie rocker Eric Masunaga technically coined the term, while filmmaker Andrew Bujalski was the first to use it publicly — and also the quickest to try to disabuse people that it applied to anything real. Nevertheless, both the term “Mumblecore” and the loose sub-genre it’s been used to describe have endured longer than any of its practitioners could have likely predicted. In 2007, two years after the Texan premieres of Joe Swanberg and the Duplass Brothers’ debut films, New York’s IFC Center ran a ten-film series entitled “The New Talkies: Generation D.I.Y.” that attempted to capture a moment in American independent film.

Somewhere Quiet explores a "Final Girl's" emotional and psychological journey after surviving trauma. The film received positive reviews for its disquieting scenes and sympathetic characterization. Jennifer Kim, Kentucker Audley, and Marin Ireland lead the impressive cast in this psychological thriller.

The trending horror movie Somewhere Quiet, features an impressive cast led by Jeniffer Kim. Written and directed by Olivia West Lloyd, Somewhere Quiet follows Meg Rhoad, a woman who is attempting to have a normal life following her escape from a kidnapper. Meg and her husband decide to travel to his compound for a break, but things begin to take a dark turn when they are joined by Scotts cousin, Madeline. Somewhere Quiet is an examination of what happens to a "Final Girl" after she survives a traumatic event and how that affects her emotionally and psychologically.

Somewhere Quiet received positive reviews from critics following its world premiere at the...

Somewhere Quiet's ending presents more questions than answers as fans are left scratching their heads. 

Directed by Olivia West Lloyd, Somewhere Quiet tells the story of Meg (Jennifer Kim) as she recovers from a brutal kidnapping. 

Meg, alongside her husband Scott (Kentucker Audley), heads to an isolated compound in Cape Cod to recover from her traumatic past, but things take a turn for the worse when they realize that they are not alone. 

Read full article on The Direct.

Comedians Colin Burgess and Anthony Oberbeck lead a fully improvised indie film about the hilarious hijinks of fatherhood.

Burgess and Oberbeck are credited as co-writers for “Dad & Step-Dad,” which marks Brooklyn-based artist Tynan DeLong’s feature directorial debut. IndieWire exclusively debuts the trailer for the buzzed-about film that debuted on indie streaming platform NoBudge.

Now, after a premiere at Nitehawk Cinema Prospect Park, sold-out screenings at Spectacle theater, and a limited theatrical run at Alamo Drafthouse, “Dad & Step-Dad” arrives on digital platforms. The movie marks NoBudge’s first move into distribution.

Director DeLong co-wrote “Dad & Step-Dad” with lead stars Burgess and Oberbeck. The official synopsis reads: “A comedy about family, communication, insecurity, and the fragility of the male ego, the film follows Jim and Dave, a dad and a step-dad, as they struggle with bonding during a weekend upstate with Branson, the son they share.”

Brooklyn-based comedian...

After popular (co-signed with Kentucker Audley) feature film projects of Sylvio (2017) and Strawberry Mansion (2021), for his latest solo effort (away from animation), Albert Birney finds himself in front of the camera alongside small critters in cicadas and a larger critter in a pooch for what could be an homage to the past and a certain nostalgia to gaming of a different time. Produced by filmmaker Pete Ohs and Emma Hannaway, we can certainly feel that some of the cool quirks in the Baltimore-based filmmaker’s Obex (which could land in 2024 or 2025) that we can witness in his filmography.…...

Exclusive: The Coven (Terrifier 2) has boarded sales ahead of the AFM on the 2023 Tribeca horror Somewhere Quiet.

The psychological horror feature follows a woman as she readjusts to normalcy after her kidnapping and the successful ransom for her return. Her sense of reality begins to deteriorate when she travels to her husband’s family compound for the winter.

Vertical has acquired North American and UK/Ireland rights.

Cast includes Jennifer Kim (The Kill Room), Marin Ireland (Hell or High Water), Kentucker Audley (She Dies Tomorrow), and Micheál Neeson (Cold Pursuit). Pic is written and directed by newcomer Olivia West Lloyd.

Producers are Taylor Shung (co-producer on Nomadland), Eamon Downey and Emma Hannaway (Strawberry Mansion). Exec producers are Last Rodeo Studios and The Population.

International sales will be conducted by Priscilla Ross Smith and Kendall Anlian of The Coven, coming off 2022’s cult hit Terrifier 2, currently re-releasing in 800+ theaters this month,...

Writer/Director Mary Dauterman’s feature directorial debut, Booger, promises to take audiences on a grossly sweet journey. Ahead of its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival, Bloody Disgusting can exclusively reveal first look images that teases an unpredictable ride ahead for the genre-bending metamorphosis thriller.

In the film: “After Booger, her dead friend’s cat runs away, Anna (Grace Glowicki) grows desperate to find him, ignoring the fact that her life (and body) are totally falling apart. A psychedelic, grotesque, and unexpectedly funny film about grief and the indescribable deepness of female friendships, Booger offers a shocking mix of genres with confidence and profound emotional impact.”

These exclusive images suggest a deeply transformative voyage ahead for Anna.

“Booger is a disgusting comedy about grief. Or a body horror that’s funny and sad. Or a tragedy that makes you laugh and squirm,” says writer/director Dauterman on her film.

Written and directed by Olivia West Lloyd, Somewhere Quiet deals with the aftermath of a Final Girl’s survival. Sure, she may have lived through a traumatic event, but Lloyd’s film examines how that may have affected her. Could someone go back to a normal life after such a horrific experience? How did the experience shape them, and how does it impact their relationship with others? Somewhere Quiet attempts to answer some of these questions, though not in a way you might expect. Bolstered by a moving performance by Jennifer Kim, the film is a slow-burn, character-driven thriller that brings us to question what is real and what is imagined.

Meg (Jennifer Kim) is whisked to her husband Scott’s (Kentucker Audley) family home to recuperate after escaping a kidnapping months earlier. Her attempts to unwind and deal with what happened to her are thwarted by the paranoia she...

Writer/Director Olivia West Lloyd’s feature debut, Somewhere Quiet, picks up after a Final Girl has survived her horror story to examine the psychological toll of surviving. Emphasis on psychological; Somewhere Quiet isn’t interested in the inciting horror event itself but rather in interrogating the complexities that survival brings. It results in a self-assured, genre-bending debut that plunges its heroine into a paranoid nightmare where reality is never what it seems.

We meet Meg (Jennifer Kim) amidst a harrowing escape, bloodied and wandering the street alone. Her husband Scott (Kentucker Audley) comes from an affluent family, and kidnappers held Meg captive at ransom for months until she managed to escape. Readjusting to everyday life isn’t easy for Meg, so Scott suggests a quiet weekend away at his family’s seaside estate. Plans for relaxation and recovery go awry when Scott’s cousin Madeline (Marin Ireland) arrives unannounced.

Writer/Director Olivia West Lloyd’s feature debut, Somewhere Quiet, interrogates what happens to the Final Girl after the credits roll.

Ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, Bloody Disgusting has an exclusive teaser trailer that teases the haunting paranoia and unsettled sense of reality from surviving trauma.

In the film, “Months after escaping a brutal kidnapping, Meg travels with her husband, Scott, to his family’s isolated compound in Cape Cod, hoping the early winter quiet will give her space to recover and for them to reconnect. Shortly after they arrive, however, the couple discovers they are not alone on the property. Scott’s charming but overbearing cousin, Madelin, is staying next door. To Meg’s surprise, the two are quite close, and soon, Madelin’s presence is inescapable. With each passing day, Meg and Scott’s already fragile relationship begins to fracture, while...

The Tribeca Festival is nearly here, taking place June 7 to June 18, and it brings a packed slate of screenings and premieres.

The festival’s 22nd edition offers a hybrid experience of virtual and in-person, with notable genre programming dedicated to repertory screenings that include Re-Animator to upcoming premieres. In other words, Tribeca’s bringing the horror this year.

Here are five titles we can’t wait to see at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Bad Things (United States) – World Premiere

In this haunting thriller, a new variation of psychological horror invites audiences to question the limitations of our contemporary relationships with people and spaces, and the implications of undealt trauma.

Written/Directed by Stewart Thorndike. Gayle Rankin, Hari Nef, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, and Rad Pereira star.

Why we’re excited: Haunted hotels and fragile minds pair well together in horror, as The Shining classically demonstrated.

Perpetrator – North American Premiere

Teenager...

The horror genre is one of the most versatile when it comes to genre-crossing and blurring the boundaries of what a movie genre can explore, and that includes the best romantic horror movies. Whether it is for the vulnerability or the intensity, there is something about romance and horror that complement each other. While there are horror films that may just throw in a relationship as a plot device, there are others that truly combine romantic drama with the terrifying world of horror movies. It is these rare movies that can be as terrifying as they are romantic.

While there is some lighter rom-com horror fare like Warm Bodies, the best romantic horror movies are usually much darker. Romances in horror films have the option of ending in either triumph or tragedy and can contain twisted relationships of fatal attraction like that of Sang-hyun and Tae-ju in Thirst. Other horror...

Winnie Cheung’s “Residency,” which has its world premiere in the Bright Future section of Intl. Film Festival Rotterdam, has debuted its trailer (below). Alief is selling the film, which is a “haunting metafictional tale about female artists pushed beyond their limits at a cursed artist residency.”

The film, set at New York artists’ studio The Locker Room, is described by Alief’s Miguel Angel Govea as “an adventurous take on the final girl horror trope.” It is a “hybrid feature dancing between fiction and non-fiction norms that plays like a punk rock cover of Gaspar Noé’s ‘Climax.'”

Cheung commented: “Rather than representing women as sexualized victims through the traditional lens of male fantasies, I’m exploring the real horror behind the anxiety of being a female artist, which is often mixed in with pleasure, delirium and joy.”

Cheung was the editor and one of the producers of “Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched,...

Cinedigm announced today the acquisition of North American rights to “Yelling Fire in an Empty Theater,” the feature debut of writer-director Justin Zuckerman. Starting Jan. 24, the film will be available for viewing exclusively on Fandor, Cinedigm’s official streaming platform.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Fandor and Cinedigm on the film, who are really building an incredible new home for independent film,” Zuckerman said. “When we made this film, we only had set out to prove to ourselves that we could make something fun and interesting with what we already had at our disposal. The support and encouragement from Fandor and elsewhere has meant the world, and we’re excited for more people to see the project.”

Zuckerman shot the 73-minute feature with a mini-dv on a budget that cost less than the monthly rent of the apartment he filmed in. Though the film’s minimal production value...

Each December, we invite Notebook contributors to pair a new release with an older film they watched for the first time that year, creating a “fantasy double feature.” In practice, this offers something like a collective viewing diary, speaking to the breadth of moving-image art and the imagination of our writers. Even a quick scroll through this year’s doubles—dreamed up and defended by over 60 Notebook contributors—reveals an inspired bounty. Where else would you find Ulrike Ottinger on a bill with Adam Curtis or Jackass Forever?Our annual poll, now in its fifteenth year, is less about anointing the best than it is about bottling the year’s energy. What unexpected resonances arise between the past and present?CONTRIBUTORSArun A.K. | Jennifer Lynde Barker | Juan Barquin | Margaret Barton-Fumo | Rafaela Bassili | Joshua Bogatin | Anna Bogutskaya | Danielle Burgos | Adrian Curry | Frank Falisi | The Ferroni Brigade | Soham Gadre | Lawrence Garcia | Sean...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Armageddon Time (James Gray)

Armageddon Time is the sort of film usually invoked as a “portrait of the nation” or “state of the union address,” something taking the temperature of a country—most likely the United States—at a particular time in history. But it’s also a work that makes self-consciousness a virtue: its wonderful writer-director, James Gray, is informed up to his eyes about the virtues and pitfalls of films like these, and here makes something so idiosyncratically his own but that audiences and critics might still mislabel with one of those aforementioned ideas. – David K. (full review)

Where to Stream: VOD

Avatar (James Cameron)

After pulling the film from their service to drum up interest in the theatrical re-release,...

France-u.K. sales-production-distribution house Alief has closed sales on a broad slate of titles whose roll-out underscores the longevity of current sales cycles, even on high-profile breakout titles.

Alief has licensed Sundance sci-fi “Strawberry Mansion” to France’s Universcine for digital, SVOD and broadcast distribution in French-speaking territories.

From U.S. scribe-helmers Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney (“Sylvio”), the film is currently on a day-and-date release in the U.K. via Bulldog Distribution. It was opened by Music Box in the U.S. while Draka Distribution closed Italy during this year’s Berlin European Film Market.

Cop Secret

Set in a none-too-distant future where the state taxes citizens’ dreams, “Strawberry Mansion” has Alief currently fielding offers for South East Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Spain, Scandinavia and Latin America, and healthy interest from buyers and festivals, Alief partner Miguel Angel Govea told Variety.

Universcine has also acquired digital, SVOD...

Whimsical near-future tale sees a tax inspector sent to audit an elderly bohemian’s dreams fall in love with her as a younger woman

This charming if decidedly silly sci-fi love story unfolds in a near future where clothes and home furnishings look much like the stuff we have today – while some of the tech equipment the props department came up with looks like the prizewinners at a primary school art fair. For example, there’s a headset people can put on as they go to bed, a mass of wires and twinkly fairy lights, which stops invasive advertising (designed to implant the desire for fried chicken or soft drinks) getting into the sleeper’s dreams. Another looks like a cardboard box with dials painted on it.

Writer-director team Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s low-budget whimsy aesthetic, propelled by a gently satirical undercurrent, is of a piece with other...

"Well, why are they trying to kill me?" "Because of what you know." Bulldog Film in the UK has reposted the official trailer for the indie film Strawberry Mansion, from filmmakers Kentucker Audley & Albert Birney. This first premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and was one of my favorite films of the fest that year. This one already opened in February in the US, but since no one saw it back then and no one even mentioned it, I'm posting this trailer anyway because I want to bring more attention to it again. In a future where the government records dreams and taxes them, a dream auditor gets caught up in the dreams of an ageing eccentric… Starring Kentucker Audley and Penny Fuller, along with an kooky cast of characters including Grace Glowicki, Reed Birney, and Linas Phillips. The film is similar to The Science of Sleep (one of my...

Bulldog Film Distribution has exclusively released a new clip from the upcoming surreal feature ‘Strawberry Mansion.’

In a future where the government records dreams and taxes them, a dream auditor gets caught up in the dreams of an ageing eccentric…

Written and Directed by Kentucker Audley & Albert Binney, the film stars Kentucker Audley, Grace Glowicki, Penny Fuller, Reed Birney, Constance Shulman and Linas Phillips.

Also in news – Kumail Nanjiani features in first look images for ‘Welcome to Chippendales’

The film hits select cinemas and on demand 16 September. Here’s the exclusive clip.

And here’s the film’s official trailer.

The post Exclusive: Dreamy new clip from surreal feature ‘Strawberry Mansion’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Before Trilogy (Richard Linklater)

Earning its status amongst the likes of Three Colors, Apu, Human Condition, Antonioni’s ’Decadence’ trilogy, and Kiarostami’s Koker trilogy, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke’s exploration of romance both fledgling and tested is one of the great film trilogies of all time. Though there’s Before Movie, Says Julie Delpy”>no plans for a fourth film in sight, one can enjoy all three films, now available to stream on The Criterion

Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel

Blue Bayou (Justin Chon)

After Antonio (Justin Chon) is wrongfully arrested in front of his wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and step-daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), he’s surprised to learn he’s been flagged for deportation. Due...

It’s another eclectic month for Mubi releases as they’ve announced their July 2022 slate. When it comes to new releases, highlights include Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley’s inventive Sundance hit Strawberry Mansion, Andrew Dominik’s new Nick Cave and Warren Ellis documentary This Much I Know to Be True, Camilo Restrepo’s Los conductos, Laura Wendel’s Oscar-shortlisted drama Playground, and Lucrecia Martel’s new short North Terminal.

They’ll also be featuring Johnnie To’s Drug War, King Hu’s Raining in the Mountain, Terence Davies’ Sunset Song, Bertrand Bonello’s Zombi Child, a pair of features from both Diao Yi’nan and Athina Rachel Tsangari, and much more.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

July 1 – Strawberry Mansion, directed by Albert Birney, Kentucker Audley | Mubi Spotlight

July 2 – The Wild Goose Lake, directed by Diao Yi’nan | The Electric Dark: Two Neo-noirs by Diao Yinan

July 3 – Little Girl,...

Do you have a taste for weird tales? Of course you do! (It was a rhetorical question.) I share your taste, but, frankly, I can't make heads of tails out of the Strawberry Mansion trailer. But I like it. Our own Martin Kudlac saw the entirety of the film -- not just the trailer! -- in connection with the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and his review concluded with these words: "Despite the dystopian setting, the humorous surreal romance adventure of Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley looks like a cross-over between a Peter Pan on Molly and the myth of Endymion. Strawberry Mansion alters the notion of an adult fairy tale into therapeutic nostalgia porn." (Read his entire review here. Or read it again.)...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Music Box Films has acquired North American rights to “Rodeo,” the bold feature debut of Lola Quivoron which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes where it won the Coup de Cœur du Jury special prize.

Produced by Charles Gillibert (“Annette”) at CG Cinema and represented by Les Films du Losange, “Rodeo” stars newcomer Julie Ledrue a Julia, a hot tempered and fiercely independent young woman who infiltrates an underground dirt bike community in France.

After a chance meeting at an urban ‘Rodeo,’ Julia finds herself drawn into a clandestine and volatile clique and striving to prove herself to the ultra-masculine group, but is she is faced with a series of escalating demands that will make or break her place in the community.

“Stylish and untamed, ‘Rodeo’ was one of the most energetic films we experienced at Cannes this year,” said Music Box Films’ Brian Andreotti. “Lola Quivoron’s dynamic...

British-French film company Alief has closed North America and French-speaking territories on “Cop Secret,” effectively now selling the Icelandic buddy cop spoof to over half the world’s major markets.

In North America, “Cop Secret” has scored a platform release with Epic Pictures. Extralucid Films has acquired France, Monaco, Luxembourg and French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland.

The writer-director feature debut of Hannes Thor Haldorsson, Iceland’s national soccer team goalkeeper, “Cop Secret” will bow in select theaters in North America on July 8 then on VOD on July 12.

The deals were put through by Patrick Ewald, president & CEO of Epic Pictures Group and Extralucid Films CEO Carine Bach and President Patrice Very. Alief President Brett Walker and partner Miguel Angel Govea negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers.

Walker and Govea are at the Cannes Film Market to continue the international roll-out of “Cop Secret,” which is already impressive.

Territories closed take in...

Writer-director Tinna Hrafnsdóttir’s critically acclaimed Icelandic psychological-mystery drama “Quake” has sold to Juno Films for North America and the U.K. as well as to Njuta Films for Sweden.

British-French production, distribution and sales company Alief is presenting the film at the upcoming Cannes Marché du Film.

Anita Briem stars as Saga, a single mother fighting to keep her young son while trying to piece together her life after losing her memory. Afraid of being considered unable to take care of her child, Saga attempts to hide her state from others as she searches for answers and recovers long repressed memories.

“‘Quake’ is a taut mystery-thriller that masterfully spirals toward a cathartic, emotionally satisfying resolution,” said Elizabeth Sheldon, Juno Films’ president and CEO. “The stunning cinematography reflects a barren cold landscape that in turn reflects the emotionally frigid familial relationships in a film that keeps you guessing — until the very end — what is true.

New Release Wall

“Encanto” succeeded with the notion of “no villain, except generational trauma,” and Disney keeps that idea going with the delightful “Turning Red” (Walt Disney Home Entertainment), a young woman’s coming-of-age story that’s a metaphor for any number of growing-up issues, including that moment when the “model” child begins to chafe at parental domination. It’s charming and adorable, and the boy-band songs by Billie Eilish and Finneas have already made their way into the latter’s stage act.

Also available:

“The Batman” (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) Does a three-hour superhero saga have deleted scenes? You bet your bat-hook, and they’re on the 4K/Blu-ray/DVD release alongside other extras.

“Blacklight” (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) Liam Neeson in the first of two (to date) 2022 thrillers that suggest that maybe it’s time for him to put down the gun.

“Cyrano” (MGM/Universal) Peter Dinklage gives...

France-uk outfit alief represent international sales.

Bulldog Film Distribution has picked up UK-Ireland rights for Sundance premiere Strawberry Mansion, with a theatrical release planned for the summer.

The US title was picked up from alief – the France-uk sales, production and distribution outfit, following last month’s European Film Market (EFM).

Strawberry Mansion is written and directed by US filmmakers Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney, who previously worked together on SXSW premiere Sylvio.

It is a Guavatron production, in association with Ley Line Entertainment, Kaleidoscope Entertainment, Salem Street Entertainment, UnLtd Prods and Cartuna. It is produced by Emma Hannaway, Matisse Rifai,...

Filmmakers Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley discuss the movies that inspired their latest film, Strawberry Mansion.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Strawberry Mansion (2022)

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Neverending Story (1984)

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary

Pretty Woman (1990) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Barton Fink (1991)

Being There (1979) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Salesman (1969)

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Eraserhead (1977) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary

The Shining (1980) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Bottle Rocket (1996)

Rushmore (1998)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Beetlejuice (1988) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – Axelle Carolyn’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s trailer commentary

Honey I Shrunk The Kids (1989)

Re-Animator (1985) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSCarla Simón’s Alcarrás (Courtesy of MK2 Films)This year's Berlinale has now concluded, with Carla Simón’s Alcarrás taking home the Golden Bear, and Hong Sang-soo, Claire Denis and Natalia Lopez Gallardo taking home prizes as well. Check out the full list of awards winners here.Horror filmmaker and production designer Alfred Sole has died at the age of 78. Sole famously directed the cult horror classic Alice, Sweet Alice (1976). However, he first gained notoriety with his X-rated film Deep Sleep (1972), which was pulled from theaters. Sole continued as a prolific production designer for many television films and shows like Veronica Mars and Melrose Place. Netflix has officially signed an updated windowing agreement with France's film industry, which will "see the window between theatrical and SVOD release significantly reduced" from 36 months to 15 months. And as Deadline points out,...

In the year 2035, dream-auditing is a prolific but thankless business, especially for James Preble (Kentucker Audley). Scrummaging through an individual’s archived dreams via an endless collection of VHS tapes, Preble finds himself constantly stuck between mundane reality and the elusive world of someone’s Rem cycle. The primary goal of slumming through this government job? Dream taxation. One afternoon, as he visits the home of Arabella Isadora, a welcoming but mysterious dream tax evader, the lines between consciousness and unconsciousness grow blurred. A love story, a comedy, a 1980s children’s fantasy […]

The post Welcome to the Dollhouse: Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney on Strawberry Mansion first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In the year 2035, dream-auditing is a prolific but thankless business, especially for James Preble (Kentucker Audley). Scrummaging through an individual’s archived dreams via an endless collection of VHS tapes, Preble finds himself constantly stuck between mundane reality and the elusive world of someone’s Rem cycle. The primary goal of slumming through this government job? Dream taxation. One afternoon, as he visits the home of Arabella Isadora, a welcoming but mysterious dream tax evader, the lines between consciousness and unconsciousness grow blurred. A love story, a comedy, a 1980s children’s fantasy […]

The post Welcome to the Dollhouse: Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney on Strawberry Mansion first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In Dreams: Audley & Birney Conjure a Candy Colored Clown They Call the Tax Man

A shimmering, nostalgic daydream which plays with parameters of the past and logical concepts of the future, collapses such sentiments into an eventual Lynchian tinged nightmare with Strawberry Mansion. A strange mixture of prophetic Orwellian invasiveness and bubble gum pop pulp, it’s like a marriage of Philip K. Dick and the metaphysical plane of Kate Chopin in what should seem like an illogical bit of fanciful low-fi sci-fi but somehow doesn’t.

Weird but far from indiscernible, the odd romantic tone struck by directing duo Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley (who last directed 2017’s Sylvio) should certainly appeal to those who desire universal themes explored innovatively, and while none of its somewhat shellshocked seeming characters court obsessive interest, in its entirety the film is a rather demure slice of weirdness which succeeds in shaking up the doldrums of cynical expectation.

Tons of films have dreams in them, but few capture what a dream actually feels like better than “Strawberry Mansion,” the surrealist indie dramedy that premiered at Sundance Film Festival last year and opens in theaters Friday and on digital next week.

Directed by Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley, the film tells the story of James Preble (Audley), an auditor who taxes people’s dreams for the U.S. government. On assignment to review the VHS-recorded dreams of aging artist Arabella Isadora (Penny Fuller), he winds up falling for the version of her younger self (Grace Glowicki) he meets in her mind, taking him on a strange journey where he fights witches, crashes on a deserted island and commands a crew of mice sailors. But even with all the creatures Preble encounters, it’s the hazy lighting, off-kilter tone and sense of wistfulness that makes the whole movie feel like a dream,...

On average, we spend just under a third of our lives asleep. Why would a capitalist system which has gradually pushed itself further and further into every aspect of our lives leave that time alone? This is the fundamental premise of Strawberry Mansion, created on a tiny budget by outsider filmmakers Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney, one of the wildest science fiction/fantasy offerings of the year.

Audley plays James Preble, a mild mannered accountant with a brown suit and small but awkwardly balanced moustache, who has been instructed to visit the titular mansion after the discovery that its primary resident, the elderly Bella (Penny Fuller), hasn’t been paying tax on her dreams. When he arrives, he finds her surprisingly welcoming, even solicitous – almost as if she knows him. Arrangements are made for him to sit in an upstairs room working through her vast dream archive and making sure that everything.

Directors Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley don’t just buck contemporary filmmaking conventions in “Strawberry Mansion” — they dared to question and challenge them. And they’ve done so by harkening back to the experimental school of moviemaking, where no topic was too controversial to touch and a variety of visual techniques could be employed to tell a story.

Set in 2035, Audley stars as dream auditor James Preble, working in a world where the surveillance state polices and taxes everything, including people’s dreams. One day he arrives at the home of Arabella (veteran actress Penny Fuller), an eccentric widow whose multi-answer response to his question of occupation he classifies as simply “artist.”

It appears that Bella, as she prefers to be called, has found a way to circumvent dream-monitoring by keeping them analog and transferring them via VHS tapes. To get inside them and compile his tally, “the Taxman,” as she calls him,...

Attempting to simply describe “Strawberry Mansion” using a quick sentence does the film an injustice. Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney have crafted a film that is strange, funny, scary, and smart. It’s an experience that you have to enjoy for yourself, perhaps with the assistance of some recreational goodies.

Read More: ‘Strawberry Mansion’ Blurs Dystopian Dreams Of Monetization, Consumption & Love Into A Quirky Lo-Fi Surreal Swirl [Sundance Review]

With “Strawberry Mansion” arriving in theaters this week, we’re thrilled to give our readers an exclusive look at a clip from the film, which sorta sums up all you need to know about the film in a quick bit.

Continue reading ‘Strawberry Mansion’ Exclusive Clip: Here’s A Glimpse Into Kentucker Audley & Albert Birney’s Wildly Surreal Film at The Playlist.

Moviegoing Memories is a series of short interviews with filmmakers about going to the movies. Albert Birney & Kentucker Audley's Strawberry Mansion is Mubi Go's Film of the Week in the US for February 18, 2022.Notebook: How would you describe your movie in the least amount of words?Albert Birney: Dream tax.Kentucker Audley: A dream auditor falls in love with the dreams of an older woman. Notebook: Where and what is your favorite movie theater? Why is it your favorite?Birney: The Dryden Theater at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY. I worked at this theater from 2006 - 2011. Every night of the week there was a different film projected. New releases, foreign films, silent films, visiting filmmakers—a little bit of everything. Working there was a dream job and it will forever be my favorite theater. Audley: I might have to say The Kentucky Theater in Lexington, Ky,...

Music Box Films has acquired the North American rights to writer-director Martika Ramirez Escobar’s genre-bending “Leonor Will Never Die,” which won the Special Jury Prize for Innovative Spirit in Sundance this year after premiering in the festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

The film tells the story of Leonor Reyes, once a major player in the Filipino film industry during its ragtag action cinema glory days, but now in her golden years and struggling to pay her bills. When she reads an advertisement for a screenplay contest, Leonor begins tinkering with an unfinished script about a young man avenging his brother’s murder at the hand of thugs.

But after a falling television knocks her unconscious and sends her into a coma, Leonor finds herself inside her incomplete movie, re-writing and editing on the fly in a fantastical bid to complete the film while her body lies in limbo.

The eighth annual Nitehawk Shorts Festival is upon us!

IndieWire can exclusively announce highlights from the upcoming Nitehawk Shorts Fest, running March 2–6 at both the Nitehawk’s Prospect Park and Williamsburg locations.

The Nitehawk Shorts Festival celebrates independent filmmaking by featuring over 60 short films, with filmmakers in attendance for Q&As. Continuing its mission to represent diverse backgrounds, voices, and perspectives with a selection of exceptional short-form films, female-directed films make up a majority of this year’s festival program.

The festival will include six programs: Opening Nite, Music Driven, Midnite, Matinee, NoBudge, and Closing Nite. Opening and Closing Nite shows will take place at the Prospect Park location, with post-screening parties hosted in the Trees Lounge bar. Music Driven, Midnite, Matinee, and NoBudge will be at the Williamsburg location.

“We have been eager to get the Nitehawk Shorts Festival back up and running, since it has become such an...

Chris Evans and Adam Kersh have launched Fusion Management, an artist-driven management company that will focus on actors, filmmakers and creators.

Their initial management roster features a number of notable clients with a particular focus on indie multi-hyphenates and auteurs. The list includes Sean Baker, who earned raves for “Red Rocket”; filmmaker and actor Amy Seimetz, the co-creator of “The Girlfriend Experience” on Starz and the star of “No Sudden Move”; Cooper Raiff, a writer, director, producer and actor whose film “Cha Cha Real Smooth” premiered at Sundance this week to critical acclaim; and Kelly O’Sullivan, the writer and star of the award-winning “Saint Frances.”

Evans, formerly a manager at One Entertainment, and Kersh, co-founder of Brigade Marketing, bring more than two decades of combined experience within the entertainment industry. The two want Fusion to be a landing ground for both established creators and emerging talent both in front of and behind the camera.

Utopia Boards Sci-Fi Drama

Exclusive: Utopia has acquired worldwide sales rights to feature film Saul At Night, a sci-fi drama and feature debut by Cory Santilli, written by Daniel Miska. Starring Kentucker Audley, Suzanne Clément, Stephanie Ellis and Acadia Colan, the movie follows Saul Capgras (Audley) as he is forced to become acclimated to isolation in a bizarre experiment. A legally imposed curfew and mandated sleeping schedule has been forced upon citizens, except Saul, the one person who rests during the day and spends his waking hours in the eerie and lonely night. Alienated from his family, Saul begins to invent ways to continue sharing his life with his wife and daughter, but things take a turn when he encounters a mysterious woman on one of his nightly wanderings. Digital release is lined up for this month. Pic is a JawDoc Productions film produced by Raz Cunningham and Julie Snyder,...

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival got an early 25th birthday present in the form of James Gunn’s “Suicide Squad,” which will receive a special screening on Aug. 4, the day before Fantasia officially kicks off with the world premiere of Julien Knafo’s zombie thriller “Brain Freeze.” Gunn is a long-time friend of the fest, having first attended in 1997 before later returning for the Canadian premiere of his Marvel blockbuster “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Fantasia also unveiled its second wave of features participating at this year’s festival, joining a raft of titles announced in May, and will announce the rest of its slate in late July along with details on several virtual events and this year’s juries.

New world premieres, joining the a six-pack announced last month, include Ruth Platt’s “Martyrs Lane,” Anna Zaytseva’s feature debut “#Blue_Whale,” Jonathan Rhys Meyers-starrer “Yakuza Princes” from filmmaker Vicente Amorim,...