News

Films by Richard Linklater, Oliver Laxe and Joachim Trier are among 53 titles selected by the Munich International Film Festival for its four main competition strands CineMasters, CineVision, CineRebels and CineCoPro.Munich runs from June 27 to July 6.

CineMasters

Oliver Laxe’s Sirat will be joined by another two Cannes 2025 Official Competition titles - Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague and Mascha Schilinski’s award-winning Sound Of Falling - to screen in the CineMasters competition for the €15,000 CineMasters Award. The prize is being sponsored for the first time this year by Dorint Hotels & Resorts and is presented to the director of the best international film.

Exclusive: UK outfit Lightbulb Film Distribution has picked up three Sundance movies out of the Cannes market.

From Paris-based WTFilms, the company has acquired Touch Me (pictured above), the psychosexual horror-comedy which premiered at Sundance Midnight and then played SXSW.

Written and directed by Addison Heimann (Hypochondriac), Rustic Films’ duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Something In The Dirt) serve as executive producers on the film starring Olivia Taylor Dudley (The Magicians) and Lou Taylor Pucci (Moon Manor). The movie sees best friends become addicted to the heroin-like touch of an alien narcissist, who may or may not be trying to take over the world.

Lightbulb has also added Grace Glowicki’s Sundance Midnight title Dead Lover to their line-up. Written, directed by and starring Glowicki (Booger), the film stars Ben Petrie, Leah Doz and Lowen Morrow in numerous roles.

In Dead Lover, a lonely gravedigger who stinks of corpses finally meets her dream man,...

Exclusive: Magnify has bolstered its Cannes sales slate with international rights to Pete Ohs’ recent SXSW genre-bender The True Beauty Of Being Bitten By A Tick.

The Narrative Spotlight premiere stars Zoë Chao, whose credits include Bubble & Squeak, as a young woman whose idyllic rural escape unravels after a tick bite triggers a series of unsettling transformations.

The cast includes Callie Hernandez, Jeremy O. Harris (The Sweet East), and James Cusati-Moyer (Maestro).

Ohs, Hernandez, Harris, Chao, and Cusati-Moyer co-wrote the screenplay, and the producers are Ohs, Hernandez (Invention), Harris (Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.), and Josh Godfrey...

Exclusive: Oscilloscope Laboratories has promoted Aaron Katz to SVP of Acquisitions and Development and Alexandra Fredricks as VP of Theatrical Sales with both reporting directly to Dan Berger, president of the New York-based distribution company.

Fredricks steps up after Andrew Carlin moved to Variance Films last month.

Katz, VP of Acquisitions since 2015, joined Oscilloscope in 2011. He recently brought in and executive produced Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language, Canada’s Academy Award submission this year that won the first-ever Directors’ Fortnight audience award at its Cannes premiere. He’s acquired and negotiated deals for Oscar-nominated Embrace Of The Serpent, Kedi and other staples of the catalog and served as EP on Vhyes by Jack Henry Robins and Relaxer by Joel Potrykus. The distrib is releasing Potrykus’ Vulcanizadora tomorrow, their fourth collaboration.

Fredricks has been with Oscilloscope since 2022 and steered festival runs for Joyland, Wildcat and Universal Language, among others. She has...

In the dim glow of 1987 Baltimore, Obex unfolds like a surreal fable, its stark black-and-white imagery conjuring an era defined by analog pulses and tactile imperfections. The film introduces us to an isolated individual whose life, steeped in solitude and routine, becomes the stage for an extraordinary upheaval. Here, outdated screens and relics such as VHS tapes and dot matrix printers serve not only as nostalgic artifacts but as quiet sentinels of a bygone time.

At the heart of this narrative stands a computer programmer whose reserved existence shatters when his beloved canine companion, Sandy, mysteriously disappears after an invitation to participate in an interactive video game. The unfolding narrative summons a mood that intermingles a somber, almost dark humor with fleeting, dreamlike sequences that skirt the edge of the surreal.

One senses in each frame an introspection that questions the nature of connection amid sterile digital realms. A subtle sadness lingers,...

What is grief if not living in the liminal space between mourning and coping, of life and death itself? Courtney Stephens’ fiction and autobiography hybrid film “Invention” blurs fact and fiction as it centers on the aftermath of actress/co-writer Callie Hernandez’s own father’s death.

Director Stephens and Hernandez both are credited for the script, with Hernandez also starring in it (the duo also produce together). Hernandez won the Pardo for Best Performance in the Filmmakers of the Present at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival.

The official synopsis for the film reads: “The film fictionalizes the aftermath of Hernandez’s father’s death using a real archive of varied TV appearances he made as an alternative health doctor in the late ’90s through 2020. The fictional storyline revolves around the patent of an experimental healing device that becomes his daughter’s (played by Hernandez as the character of ‘Carrie Fernandez’) sole inheritance.

Universal Language, the original and quietly funny Oscar-shortlisted Cannes and TIFF premiering feature by Canadian filmmaker Matthew Rankin debuts on one screen each in New York and LA. Chinese animated juggernaut Ne Zha 2 opens Stateside and Oscar Nominated Shorts are back for a 20th season. Sony Picture Classics’ Becoming Led Zeppelin expands to 1,039 locations from 369 Imax screens and IFC Films jumps Armand to 230 theaters from two. Oscar contenders continue to populate screens.

Oscilloscope’s Universal Language quite likes this window with the Academy Awards a few weeks away. In a crowded market, “this date is great. Once the ceremony comes and goes, there is a rotation of films out of theaters,” says theatrical distribution chief Andrew Carlin.

He calls Rankin a great actor and filmmaker with a particular sense of style and Universal Language a film with “a strangeness to it that defies classification” — a plus for Oscilloscope.

Rankin returned the compliment.

While there was a noticeable drought for pick-ups at the Sundance Film Festival this year, movie sales continue to trickle out from Park City a few weeks later.

In fact, Oscilloscope Laboratories acquired the North American rights to Albert Birney’s black-and-white fantasy odyssey “Obex” on Thursday, TheWrap has learned.

Birney starred in, produced, directed and co-wrote the surreal film with Pete Ohs. It marks the filmmaker’s solo, live-action directorial debut. Producers include Birney, Ohs, Emma Hannaway and James Belfer.

“The film follows Conor Marsh (Birney), a man living a secluded life with his dog, Sandy, until one day he begins playing Obex, a new, state-of-the-art computer game. When Sandy goes missing, the line between reality and game blurs and Conor must venture into the strange world of Obex to bring her home,” per the logline.

“I’ve long been captivated by the unique and thought-provoking films released by Oscilloscope Laboratories,...

Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to “Obex” following its debut at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The surreal, black-and-white fantasy film was directed by Albert Birney (“Strawberry Mansion”) who wrote the script with Pete Ohs (“Jethica”). Birney also stars in the film.

The film was widely praised for its imagination and style, with Variety calling it “entrancing and singular” and comparing it favorably to “I Saw the TV Glow.” It follows Conor Marsh (Birney), a man living a secluded life with his dog, Sandy, until one day he begins playing Obex, a new, state-of-the-art computer game. When Sandy goes missing, the line between reality and game blurs, and Conor must venture into the strange world of Obex to bring her home.

The producing team includes Birney, Ohs, Emma Hannaway and James Belfer, the founder and CEO of production company Cartuna. “Obex” marks the company’s third collaboration with Birney,...

Writer-director Albert Birney’s latest film, Obex, an almost non-categorizable sci-fi/fantasy/comedy-drama, stands out as a vibe film through and through. If you’re on Obex’s wavelength or frequency, i.e., attuned to its oddball charms, quirky humor, and irony-free, poignant exploration of its central themes, then Obex will prove a deeply engaging, infinitely rewarding experience. Set in 1987 and everything that implies low-tech wise, Obex centers on Birney’s character, Conor, a mild-mannered type defined by his agoraphobia. Conor never leaves his home except to collect the groceries his unseen neighbor, Mary (Callie Hernandez), leaves on his front steps or his backyard to spend time outside with his longtime companion, Sandy. Sandy means everything to Conor. She’s his stalwart friend, the best...

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

Heading into the EFM next week, Magnify has acquired the global sales rights excluding France to Nelson Foix’s Guadeloupe-set crime thriller Zion.

Adapted from an award-winning short, Timoun Aw, the French-language feature takes place in the projects of the Caribbean island’s second cityPointe-à-Pitre and follows26-year-old Chris (newcomer Sloan Decombes), who balances his time between drug deals, one-night stands, and motorcycle rides.

When Chris attracts the attention of local gang leader Odell, he is given a dangerous assignment. On the same day as the mission, Chris unexpectedly discovers an anonymous baby left at his doorstep. A gripping race...

Magnify has boarded “The Blood Countess,” a vampire mystery movie starring Isabelle Huppert as Countess Elizabeth Báthory, a 16th-century Hungarian serial killer.

Directed by renowned German New Wave artist and filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger, the movie is inspired by the life and legend of Countess Elizabeth Báthory. The screenplay was penned by Ottinger and Elfriede Jelinek, the Nobel Prize in Literature winner and acclaimed author of “The Piano Teacher.”

Huppert stars in the film opposite Birgit Minichmayr (“Daughters”), Lars Eidinger (“Dying”), Thomas Schubert (“Afire”) and André Jung (“The Forger”).

“The Blood Countess” is one of the hottest European projects to head to the EFM next week where Magnify’s sales team, led by Lorna Lee Torres, will be introducing the movie to buyers.

Huppert plays the Countess Elizabeth Báthory (aka ‘The Blood Countess’), as she awakens from her long beauty sleep and emerges from the underworld. “She and her devoted maid...

“There it is,” says Computer Conor, finding the advert for his modest computer-art service in the latest issue of Personal Computing while his dog, Sandy, snuffles on the sofa. Though the aesthetic of Obex — Albert Birney’s follow-up to the pastel-hued Strawberry Mansion (2021) — is grainy ’70s Eraserhead monochrome, appearances can be deceiving. The year is 1987, with Reagan in the White House and Madonna in the charts, but Conor (played by Birney himself) is unaware. A virtual shut-in, he sees life through a screen, even sending his neighbor Mary to do his grocery shopping.

Flipping through the magazine, an advert for a new computer game catches his eye; illustrated with a gothic castle, a satanic goat’s head and human brain, it promises a breakthrough in interactive gaming: “Can you make it to the end of the maze and defeat the demon Ixaroth before he eats your mortal soul?” To take part,...

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is allowing audiences topause, rewind and travel back to an era when video shops were at the epicentre of film culture.

The IFFR special Focus programme ’Hold Video In Your Hands’ has premieres of two new documentaries about VHS culture: Alex Ross Perry’s Videoheaven, exploring the role of VHS in US film and TV, and Gyz La Rivière’s Videotheek Marco, a tribute to the once booming Dutch video scene.

The Focus also includes movies set in video stores (Be Kind Rewind); films about video dubbing and piracy (Video Kings); some horror (The Video...

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’s Obex is a dark, twisted, and nonsensical fantasy about a man who gets sucked into a video game and forced to fend for his life while trying to recover his most trusted companion; a Wizard of Oz-esque mixed with a dash of Wizard of Wor, all while millions of bugs emerge after long dormancy just to add to the level of auditory anxiety. It was a strange feeling watching Obex mere days after the passing of David Lynch. With its start black and white imagery, low-fi aesthetic, and fascination with introverted characters, it’s fair to say that the likes of Eraserhead were on my mind while watching Albert Birney’s latest. Then again, given its video game structure based on a series of quests, it was easy to think warmly of 100s of Beavers, or a canine caper like John Wick.

Magnify has landed worldwide sales rights to helmer Yi Jing’s directorial debut “The Botanist,” ahead of its world premiere in the Berlin Film Festival’s Generation Kplus competition.

The coming-of-age tale, set in a remote village in China’s Xinjiang region, follows a young Kazakh boy named Arsin who develops a deep connection with plants. His life takes a turn when he meets Meiyu, a Han Chinese girl whose free spirit he likens to a mysterious plant. Their friendship unfolds into what’s described as a dreamlike allegory that weaves between reality and botanical fantasy.

The film is produced by Shan Zuolong, known for Bi Gan’s arthouse hit “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” alongside Ai Qi. The creative team includes composer Peyman Yazdanian (“Hit the Road”), editor Yaonan Liu (“The Great Phuket”) and lenser Fannong Li.

“Jing Yi’s debut film is a remarkable discovery, a tender tale...

While the likes of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome and Steven Lisberger’s Tron have examined the thrills and fears of humanity’s relationship with screens since the early ‘80s, there’s been a recent, renewed interest as the number of screens in one’s life has ever-expanded. At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Jane Schoebruen explored identity-forming bonds with media and the eventual curdling nostalgia with I Saw the TV Glow. This year, Obex finds Albert Birney following Strawberry Mansion with another inventive and lo-fi adventure, but one that finds the director honing in with a more satisfying focus. Even though our main character spends every waking moment in front of a screen, this is no damning screed but an earnest, even poignant look at how entertainment can provide a sense of comfort for the most lonely souls.

It’s 1987 in Baltimore, an unlucky year in which 17-year cicadas...

Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? We filmed a few scenes in the woods behind my childhood home. I know these woods like the back of my hand. I know where the deer paths are and where the ground is steep and where the old abandoned stone building is. I’ve been playing in these woods for as long as I […]

The post “A Joyous Return to the Wonder and Thrill of Youthful Invention” | Albert Birney, Obex first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? We filmed a few scenes in the woods behind my childhood home. I know these woods like the back of my hand. I know where the deer paths are and where the ground is steep and where the old abandoned stone building is. I’ve been playing in these woods for as long as I […]

The post “A Joyous Return to the Wonder and Thrill of Youthful Invention” | Albert Birney, Obex first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In Obex, the secluded Conor finds his life take a turn for the worse when a state-of-the-art computer game begins to intrude into his reality. The film, directed by Albert Birney (The Strawberry Mansion), will premiere as part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s Next section. Multi-hyphenate Pete Ohs was a co-writer as well as the director of photography for Obex. He speaks in his capacity as cinematographer below, describing the goals and influences for the film’s look and explaining how his close friendship with Birney informed the film. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and […]

The post “It Was Always Fun, But Not Necessarily Easy”: Dp Pete Ohs on Obex first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In Obex, the secluded Conor finds his life take a turn for the worse when a state-of-the-art computer game begins to intrude into his reality. The film, directed by Albert Birney (The Strawberry Mansion), will premiere as part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s Next section. Multi-hyphenate Pete Ohs was a co-writer as well as the director of photography for Obex. He speaks in his capacity as cinematographer below, describing the goals and influences for the film’s look and explaining how his close friendship with Birney informed the film. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and […]

The post “It Was Always Fun, But Not Necessarily Easy”: Dp Pete Ohs 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.

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.

The penultimate Sundance Film Festival held in Park City, Utah—and the first held since the fest announced that it was shopping around for a new home—2025’s edition begins a two-year farewell to the slopes by rolling out a familiar slate of documentaries, daring Next selections, indie dramas with exactly one high-profile star,...

Magnify has acquired the international and U.S. sales rights to “Obex” ahead of its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Directed by and starring “Sylvio” and “Strawberry Mansion” filmmaker Albert Birney, “Obex” is a black and white fantasy film that marks Birney’s first live-action directorial effort.

Written by Birney and Pete Ohs, the film follows Connor Marsh (Birney), a man living in seclusion with his dog Sandy. One day he begins playing the titular Obex, a state-of-the-art computer game. When Sandy goes missing, the line between reality and the game blurs and Conor must venture into the

strange world of Obex to bring her home.

“[This] is a surreal and fantastical journey through time and space — a wild ride filled with

wonders, unexpected characters, and thrills along the way,” said Magnify SVP tof Global Sales

Lorna Lee. “We’re incredibly excited to champion the heart-forward, humorous and imaginative

cinema of Albert Birney.

Our first glimpse at 2025 independent cinema has arrived with the unveiling of next month’s Sundance Film Festival, taking place January 23–February 2, 2025, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, with all of the competition films and more available online from January 30–February 2, 2025 across the country.

Curated from 15,775 submissions from 156 countries or territories, including 4,138 feature-length films, the 87 selected feature-length films include Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet; Ira Sachs’ Peter Hujar’s Day starring Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall; Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta follow-up Magic Farm starring Chloë Sevigny and Alex Wolff; the Josh O’Connor-led Rebuilding, from A Love Song director Max Walker-Silverman; Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You with Rose Byrne, A$AP Rocky, and Conan O’Brien; the Isabelle Huppert-led Luz; Love, Brooklyn starring André Holland; Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius); Elegance Bratton...

Always our go-to section for truly unique singular voices working in micro cinema, Kahlil Joseph (a major music video filmmaker who needs no introduction) along with U.S in Progress alumni from the past two editions in Amanda Kramer and Albert Birney are part of the Next section line-up. A firm eight piece selection, Joseph’s highly anticipated Blknws: Terms & Conditions joins one-of-a-kind filmmakers in Kramer who brings the recently workshopped By Design while Birney presents Obex. Here are the selections:

Blknws: Terms & Conditions / U.S.A. –– Preeminent West African curator and scholar Funmilayo Akechukwu’s magnum opus, The Resonance Field, leads her to the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, drawing a journalist into a journey that shatters her understanding of consciousness and time.…...

Micro-budget American indie filmmaker Pete Ohs really doesn’t miss a beat. When he’s not directing—keeping up a steady pace with Youngstown (2021), Jethica (2022) and Love and Work (2024) — he might be on the editing dock with (e.g. Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.). And when he’s not in those functions, he is serving as a cinematographer — look out for Albert Birney’s Obex, set to release in 2025. Now comes word that Erupcja (which was recently selected to participate in this year’s U.S.in Progress in Wroclaw) had a bitr more mustard on it. Players include Lena Góra (Roving Woman), Will Madden and two artists now firmly getting into the acting game in playwright Jeremy O.…...

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.…...

Not long ago, an award-winning Polish composer who’d scored dozens of films approached Ula Śniegowska about U.S. in Progress, an industry event conceived as a bridge between the Polish and American markets that runs parallel to the American Film Festival in Wrocław, Poland.

“He approached me saying, ‘I’ve done enough in the Polish market. I need an introduction to the international market. Can you, as U.S. in Progress, help me?’” Śniegowska recalls. “It seems we are a perfect matchmaker for those types of companies to have their work exposed in the U.S.”

Celebrating its 13th edition, U.S. in Progress was launched as a showcase for emerging independent American filmmakers. Each year, the event presents a curated selection of American indie titles in the final stages of production to European sales agents, distributors and festival programmers. This year’s edition takes place Nov. 8 – 10.

Since its inception,...

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.

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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.