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Can a couple stuck in a professional and marital rut survive a wine country weekend with über wealthy friends? That’s the premise of Michael Tennant’s surprise SXSW hit Pretty Problems. The imaginative yet surprisingly grounded romp won accolades at various film festivals, including Maui Film Festival’s Narrative Feature Comedy award, Best English Language Feature Film at the Sonoma International Film Festival, and ReFrame’s “ReFrame Stamp” Feature. The film managed to also take home the coveted SXSW Film Festival Audience Award in the Narrative Spotlight slot.

As the writer, producer, and co-star of the film, Tennant teamed with fellow screenwriters Britt Rentschler and Charlotte Ubben, and director Kestrin Pantera (Mother’s Little Helpers). The story tracks a slippery vulnerability spiral experienced by Lindsay (Rentschler) and Jack (Tennant) when they head to a plush Sonoma château with affluent strangers, only to wind up questioning nearly everything about their relationship and their economic status.

Faced with uncertainty in his own marriage, screenwriter/producer/actor Michael Tennant wanted to make a comedy that two people who could have another go at it if they were willing to, as he puts it, “look at their own sh*t, do the work, and say ‘I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.’”

The result is Pretty Problems, which feels like a creative cousin to Wedding Crashers by way of the Duplass Brothers with a touch of Schitt’s Creek tossed in there for some wonderful humor. But make no mistake, Pretty Problems is downright original. The film won the SXSW Film Festival Audience Award in 2022. It hits Hulu on July 13.

Written by Tennant, Britt Rentschler, and Charlotte Ubben, Pretty Problems was directed by Kestrin Pantera (Mother’s Little Helpers). The satirical smackdown of the uber wealthy is great fun with an on-the-mark cast featuring Tennant, Britt Rentschler (Uncle Frank...

Britt Rentschler is the star of Pretty Problems, a smart and hilarious new indie adult comedy which she also produced and helped write with screenwriter and co-star Michael Tennant. In this episode, she talks about their lengthy commitment to making the story work, building their characters with depth, and the risky but triumphant decision to cast their talented friends in supporting roles rather than famous actors who might have secured more money. She describes how her apprehension toward playing the lead role of Lindsay actually benefited her performance, the ways director Kestrin Pantera brought the best out of everyone, plus […]

The post “This Is as Grassroots as It Gets”: Pretty Problems Star Britt Rentschler, Back To One Episode 225 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Britt Rentschler is the star of Pretty Problems, a smart and hilarious new indie adult comedy which she also produced and helped write with screenwriter and co-star Michael Tennant. In this episode, she talks about their lengthy commitment to making the story work, building their characters with depth, and the risky but triumphant decision to cast their talented friends in supporting roles rather than famous actors who might have secured more money. She describes how her apprehension toward playing the lead role of Lindsay actually benefited her performance, the ways director Kestrin Pantera brought the best out of everyone, plus […]

The post “This Is as Grassroots as It Gets”: Pretty Problems Star Britt Rentschler, Back To One Episode 225 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Class divisions that assume macrocosmic significance in Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness” remain microcosmically scaled in “Pretty Problems,” another cleverly discomfiting, festival-blessed comedy hitting theaters on Oct. 13. Kestrin Pantera’s third directorial feature, which won the Audience Award at SXSW, also places a less-advantaged young couple in an enclave of the very rich. Here, however, the upscale slumming is not free, but rather at their expense — a cruel-gamesmanship setup that (as our hero duly notes) suggests the usual horror-movie agenda of “They’re gonna kill us.”

That teased direction is not where the film eventually goes, and indeed the script (hatched by several lead performers here) manages to keep upending expectations to the end. The result is a fresh mix of social satire and relationship dissection with a saving dollop of heart. IFC is opening it on about 30 U.S. theater screens, simultaneous with on-demand platforms.

Opening with a...

Sometimes, the grass really is greener. That’s a lesson that Jack and Lindsay (Michael Tennant and Britt Rentschler) learn in “Pretty Problems,” though it’s not like their side of the fence was offering much competition. The young married couple is stuck in the kind of rut that nobody expects to hit at such an early age. She’s a wannabe fashion designer who had to put her dreams on whole and work a retail job, while he’s a lovable schlub selling solar panels door-to-door while making sure his probation officer (who’s tragically named Doug) doesn’t send him to jail. They have a nonexistent sex life despite their best efforts, and appear to be floating in a kind of domestic purgatory that isn’t easily escaped.

That all changes when Cat (JJ Nolan) wanders into the boutique where Lindsay works. The vape-loving, wine-guzzling trophy wife is...

(From left) Britt Rentschler as Lindsay, JJ Nolan as Cat, Graham Outerbridge as Matt, Alex Klein as Kerry, Charlotte Ubben as Carrie, and Michael Tennant as Jack in Kestrin Pantera’s Pretty Problems Photo: IFC Films “That’s a murder house. That’s a house where murder happens,” says Jack,...

"I thought she was joking when she said she invited you up here." IFC Films has revealed an official trailer for an indie comedy titled Pretty Problems, which originally premiered at this year's SXSW Film Festival in the spring. Jack and Lindsay are invited on a getaway trip with affluent strangers: down the rabbit hole, and into the most unhinged weekend of their lives. Can their relationship survive? This wacky, wild comedy takes a look at the difference between the "haves" and "have nots" on this party trip to a Sonoma Chateau. The film stars Britt Rentschler and Michael Tennant as Lindsay and Jack, with J.J. Nolan, Charlotte Ubben, Graham Outerbridge, Alex Klein, Clayton Froning, Katarina Hughes, Vanessa Chester, and Amy Maghera. This looks like it's trying to make fun of "pretty people" and all their crazy problems, but it also looks so ludicrous it may not even be fun?...

The premise of “Pretty Problems” is that two millennials, Lindsay (Britt Rentschler) and Jack (Michael Tennant), are stuck in a rut in their marriage and go on a long weekend to wine country. Invited by an ultra-wealthy housewife who has a vape in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, they find themselves in for a weekend alongside a self-made billionaire who *knows* how successful he is and an actress/model who is more like arm candy for the trust fund kid in attendance.

Continue reading ‘Pretty Problems’ Trailer & Poster: A Comedic Look At The Millennial Experience [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

People often fall in love with the potential of new relationships, both romances and friendships, until they’re eventually faced with the truth about the actual circumstance of the other person’s life. The protagonists of the new romantic comedy-drama, ‘Pretty Problems,’ down-on-their-luck married couple Lindsay and Jack, feel as though they may not to be able […]

The post SXSW 2022 Interview: Kestrin Pantera, Britt Rentschler and Michael Tennant Talk Pretty Problems (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.

Exclusive: Kestrin Pantera’s satirical takedown of the rich elite, Pretty Problems, has been acquired by IFC Films following the pic’s Narrative Spotlight Audience Award win at SXSW. The pic will hit theaters and VOD this year.

IFC is taking all global rights to the pic written by Michael Tennant, Britt Rentschler and Charlotte Ubben, who also star in the movie alongside JJ Nolan, Graham Outerbridge, Alex Klein, Clayton Froning, Katarina Hughes, Vanessa Chester and Amy Maghera. Katya Alexander, Rentschler, Ubben and Tennant also produce.

Lindsay (Rentschler) is as bored with her marriage to Jack (Tennant) as she is working in a boutique — until Cat Flax (Nolan) swoops into the store, showering her with flattery and conspicuous displays of wealth. The pair bond over a bottle of wine, and Lindsay arrives home flushed with excitement about her rich new friend. Jack reluctantly agrees to accept Cat’s invitation for a weekend away,...

Theatrical, VoD release planned for later this year.

IFC Films has acquired worldwide rights from to up SXSW audience award winner Pretty Problems.

Kestrin Pantera’s film stars Britt Rentschler as a woman bored in her marriage who befriends a charming affluent woman who invites her and her husband to a wild weekend getaway. Michael Tennant also stars and the cast includes JJ Nolan, Charlotte Ubben and Graham Outerbridge.

Tennant, Rentschler and Ubben co-wrote the screenplay to Pretty Problems, which won the Narrative Spotlight audience award last month at the in-person festival.

Katya Alexander, Rentschler, Ubben, and Tennant served as...

Theatrical, VoD release planned for later this year.

IFC Films has acquired worldwide rights from to up SXSW audience award winner Pretty Problems.

Kestrin Pantera’s film stars Britt Rentschler as a woman bored in her marriage who befriends a charming affluent woman who invites her and her husband to a wild weekend getaway. Michael Tennant also stars and the cast includes JJ Nolan, Charlotte Ubben and Graham Outerbridge.

Tennant, Rentschler and Ubben co-wrote the screenplay to Pretty Problems, which won the Narrative Spotlight audience award last month at the in-person festival.

Katya Alexander, Rentschler, Ubben, and Tennant served as...

Updated, 12:23 Pm: South by Southwest Conference and Festivals today announced the Audience Award winners for the 29th SXSW Film Festival, with the Patton Oswalt comedy I Love My Dad, FX’s comedy series Atlanta, Sony Pictures Classics’ music doc The Return of Tanya Tucker – Featuring Brandi Carlile and AMC’s drama series 61st Street coming in as notable recipients.

I Love My Dad was previously awarded the Narrative Feature Competition Grand Jury Award, and today took home the Narrative Feature Competition Audience Award. Atlanta won out in the Headliners section, with The Return of Tanya Tucker prevailing in 24 Beats Per Second, and 61st Street taking the Audience Award for Episodic Premieres.

The SXSW Audience Awards follow the previously-announced 2022 Jury Awards, as well as the 40 Years of Massive Talent Award, which was presented to Nicolas Cage at the festival screening of his Lionsgate pic The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent on Saturday night.

Cat (JJ Nolan) loves shopping. She likes to go out and splash out, pick up something new and exciting. She’s impulsive. She likes clothes, food, wine. Sometimes she goes out and acquires a new person.

Lindsay (Britt Rentschler) and Jack (Michael Tennant) have been struggling with numerous small problems which have gradually got them down and put pressure on their marriage. She’s frustrated in her jon at a clothing store but feels trapped there because he’s unemployed. He’s on probation after a petty offence, required to submit to regular check-ups and blood tests. Though not threatening to her, he has anger issues, and she worries about people setting him off. With all this going on, sex between them isn’t really working anymore. They love each other but it’s hard to claw one’s way out of that kind of mess.

It’s the sadness which excites Cat.

A couple have a wild weekend away in Pretty Problems, Kestrin Pantera’s laugh-out-loud comedy premiering at SXSW.

Written by Michael Tennant, who also co-stars, it’s a witty look at wealth, privilege and relationships over a couple of days of hedonism in wine country.

Lindsay (Britt Rentschler) is as bored with her marriage to Jack (Tennant) as she is working in a boutique — until Cat Flax (JJ Nolan) swoops into the store, showering her with flattery and conspicuous displays of wealth. The pair bond over a bottle of wine, and Lindsay arrives home flushed with excitement about her rich new friend. Jack reluctantly agrees to accept Cat’s invitation for a weekend away, and they jump into a car and drive into another world: of butlers, gift bags, massages and astronomically expensive wine their hosts forget even buying.

Cat’s married to Matt Flax (Graham Outerbridge), a self-made billionaire...

The film is up for five Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Vertigo Releasing has acquired UK-Ireland rights to Tribeca award-winning US feature The Novice, which it will release in cinemas and on digital platforms on April 1, 2022.

The film is the directorial debut of US writer-director Lauren Hadaway, and is based on her personal experience as a competitive collegiate rower.

Isabelle Fuhrman stars as an obsessive college freshman who joins her university’s rowing team and undertakes an extreme physical and psychological journey to make it to the top varsity boat.

The film debuted at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, winning three awards: best US narrative feature film,...

Exclusive: IFC Films has acquired North American rights to The Novice, the first feature from writer-director Lauren Hadaway, which will debut in select theaters, digital platforms and VOD on December 17.

The festival favorite follows queer college freshman Alex Dall (Orphan‘s Isabelle Fuhrman), who joins her university’s rowing team and undertakes an obsessive physical and psychological journey to make it to the top varsity boat.

Hadaway based the thriller on personal experience as a competitive collegiate rower. With it, she poses provocative questions about the expectations imposed on young women in America, and the psychologically damaging effects of a culture that encourages the pursuit of being “the best” no matter the cost.

Amy Forsyth, Dilone, Kate Drummond, Jonathan Cherry and Charlotte Ubben round out the cast of the film, which premiered to critical acclaim at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, winning the top prize of Best U.S. Narrative Feature,...

In today’s film news roundup, Freida Lee Mock gets a lifetime honor, Isabelle Fuhrman and Penn Badgley get cast, AFI is unveiling rare footage of Alfred Hitchcock, and a faith-based baseball drama and a spy comedy get release dates. Career Honor The International Documentary Association has selected Freida Lee Mock as the recipient of its career achievement award, to be presented at the 35th Annual Ida Documentary Awards on Dec. 7 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. Mock has been nominated for five Academy Awards, winning for “Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision” in the documentary feature category. She received short subject nominations for “To Live or Let Die,” “Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember,” “Never Give Up” and “Sing!” Mock’s television credits include the 2013 documentary “Anita” and Emmy winner “Lillian Gish: The Actor’s Life for Me.” Emmy nominated filmmaker Rachel Lears will be honored with the Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award.