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New York City and L.A.-based indie distributor 1091 Pictures, known for such hit releases as Taika Waititi’s “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” Spirit Awards winner “Christine” and knockout comedy “The Overnight,” has swooped in on rights to all English-speaking territories for psychedelic thriller “To the Moon.” The drama, sold by Yellow Veil Pictures, marks the directorial debut of actor Scott Friend (“The Dark End of the Street”), who also wrote the pic and plays a lead role in it.

The movie, which is debuting its first poster in Variety, premiered last year at the online film festival Nightstream, and was in selection at the 2020 U.S. in Progress industry showcase organized by Wroclaw’s American Film Festival, which later hosted the pic’s international premiere.

“To the Moon” is a twist on the unwanted-house-guest trope. It follows a young couple, played by Friend and Madeleine Morgenweck, who find...

Exclusive: Arthouse genre outfit Yellow Veil Pictures has picked up world sales rights on To The Moon, Scott Friend’s debut feature.

The film recently had its world premiere at the collaborative virtual festival Nightstream, which was organized by a collective of U.S. genre fests including Boston Underground, Brooklyn Horror, North Bend Film Festival, and The Overlook Film Festival.

Written, directed, and lead by Scott Friend, a weekend of healing for Dennis (Friend) and Mia (Madeleine Morgenweck) becomes a hallucinatory nightmare when Dennis’ estranged brother Roger (Will Brill) arrives and begins to distort their senses. Also starring are Will Brill (The Oa) and Madeleine Morgenweck (The Dark End Of The Street).

Producers on the movie are Cate Smierciak, Everett Hendler, Stephanie Randall, David Formentin and Gabriel Wilson. The film was selected as part of the 2020 U.S. in Progress Wroclaw industry showcase.

Yellow Veil Pictures co-founder Joe Yanick said,...

One way to break into directing has always been to find a young, unsigned band and offer to do a music video. A new way: make a trailer for a book. These days, there are more and more trailers for books, and many of them take the form of short films. All you need is one hot independent film actor (Paul Dano) and one hip crossover porn star (Stoya). Case in point: the mumblecore-meets-porno stylings for Adam Wilson’s debut novel Flatscreen, forthcoming from Harper Perennial. Wilson is the Associate Editor of the New York Egoist, a blogger for BlackBook Magazine, and his novel is described as “a coming-of-age story about a young man trying to become a new person in a world where nothing is new.” In addition to Dano and Stoya, the short also features Sara Cicilian, Paul Rome, Harper Perennial editor Michael Signorelli, and Wilson. It was directed by Gabriel Wilson.