News

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.

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.

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.

Exclusive: Emmy-Award winning producer and director Daniel Minahan and Oscar winning producer Peter Spears are teaming with Ley Line Entertainment to develop the feature film On Swift Horses based on the Shannon Pufahl novel of the same name.

On Swift Horses follows Muriel and her husband Lee who are beginning a bright new life when he returns from the Korean war. However, this newfound stability is upended by the arrival of Lee’s charismatic younger brother, Julius, a wayward gambler with a secret past. A dangerous love triangle is quickly formed. When Julius then takes off in search of the young card cheat he’s fallen for, restless Muriel embarks on a secret life of her own, gambling on racehorses and discovering a love she never thought possible.

Minahan will direct off Bryce Kass’ adapted screenplay. Minahan and Spears will produce the project, joined by Ley Line’s Tim Headington. Ley Line’s Theresa Steele Page and Nate Kamiya will serve as EP.

Kass is the screenwriter of Lizzie, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, starring Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart and was released by Roadside Attractions. He is currently writing the film Alone for HBO/Max with Laura Bickford producing, based on Leslie Kean’s best-selling non-fiction book UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record, and is also at work on a five-episode limited series with Gus Van Sant who is set to direct. He recently completed writing an updated Saturday Night Fever feature for Daft Punk. Other screenplays by Kass include Dark Star for director Scott Cooper and Oscar-winning producer John Lesher, The Real All Americans for producers Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger and two for George Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures: Pioneer and Monster of Florence. His television project Lights, is set up at Working Title/ Universal TV with Andrew Stearn producing.

Minahan most recently directed and executive produced the entirety of Netflix’s limited series Halston. He made his feature directorial debut with Series 7: The Contenders, which screened in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and in the Panorama at the Berlin Film Festival. For his work on the film Minahan was nominated for the Gotham Award’s Open Palm Award for Outstanding Directorial Debut and the film won the Audience Award at the Sweden Fantastic Film Festival. On the television side, Minahan won an Emmy Award as an EP of American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace for which he also directed several episodes. He was also nominated for an Emmy Award for directing and executive producing Deadwood: The Movie and has directed multiple episodes of Game of Thrones, True Blood, Six Feet Under and The Newsroom.

Spears recent shared an Oscar Best Picture win for Nomadland. The Searchlight pic also won Academy Awards for director Chloé Zhao and star Frances McDormand and won the Golden Globe, Critics Choice Award, BAFTA, PGA and Independent Spirit Award for Best Picture. Spears produced Luca Guadagnino’s film Call Me By Your Name, for which he was also nominated for the Oscar in 2017. He is currently in production on Bones and All, reuniting with Guadagnino and star Timothée Chalamet.

Ley Line Entertainment is a content development, production, and financing company with projects spanning film, television, stage, and music. Highlights include a documentary on Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, Long Promised Road which premiered at Tribeca; David Lowery’s upcoming The Green Knight; Everything Everywhere All At Once from The Daniels; the original West End musical & Juliet (featuring the international megahits of Max Martin and writer David West Read (Schitt’s Creek); Miss Juneteenth - a TV series (and the original film) from Channing Godfrey Peoples; and Sundance’s Strawberry Mansion from Albert Birney and Kentucky Audley.

Minahan is represented by UTA and Circle of Confusion. Kass is repped by Circle of Confusion. Pufahl is repped by UTA.

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,...

One of the most imaginative films in this year’s Sundance Film Festival was Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley’s delightfully analog adventure Strawberry Mansion. Set in a world where the government records and taxes dreams, we follow an unassuming dream auditor who gets swept up in a cosmic journey through the life and dreams of an older eccentric. Recently picked up by Music Box Films for a release later this year, they’ve now released the first trailer.

I said in my Sundance review, “What if the government didn’t strictly tax your paychecks and transactions, but your dreams as well? With their vibrant, imaginative, and genre-melding new film Strawberry Mansion, directors Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley envision this reality in the near-future of 2035, but with their clear admiration for analog technology, it could just as well take place in an alternate timeline recalling decades past. Following a dream...

"Do you believe that your dreams are your own?" Music Box has released the official trailer for a wacky, lo-fi indie sensation from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival this year called Strawberry Mansion. It's made by filmmakers Kentucker Audley & Albert Birney (both of Sylvio previously) and will play in theaters later this year. Not many critics gave this film a chance during Sundance, but it ended up being one of my Best of the Fest picks. In a world where the government records & taxes dreams, an unassuming dream auditor gets swept up in a cosmic journey through the life and dreams of an older eccentric. The film stars Kentucker Audley and Penny Fuller, along with an kooky cast of characters including Grace Glowicki, Reed Birney, and Linas Phillips. In my Sundance recap, I wrote that this has "strange creations galore, dreamy visuals, weird FX, all with an anti-capitalist edge." I love it sooo much.

There’s good news for Kentucker Audley‘s surreal DIY indie film, “Strawberry Mansion.” Alief has acquired international rights to the high-concept fantasy, which has its world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Music Box Films acquired the lo-fi indie for North America right after the festival, and now the distributor has released a new trailer (via Indiewire).

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

“Strawberry Mansion” is written and directed by indie filmmakers Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney.

Continue reading ‘Strawberry Mansion’ Trailer: Kentucker Audley Is A Dream Auditor Swept Up In A Cosmic Journey at The Playlist.

Music Box Films has today announced the Chicago-based distributor’s acquisition of “Strawberry Mansion” in North America, in a deal struck with Submarine Entertainment. To celebrate the pickup, the distributor has also offered up the first trailer for the film, a surreal charmer that debuted at Sundance back in January and promises to enthrall audiences when Music Box releases it later this year.

Written and directed by Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney, the film “is set in the not-too-distant future, in a world where dreams are recorded and taxed by the government. Audley stars as an unassuming dream auditor who gets swept up in a cosmic journey through the life and dreams of an older eccentric (Penny Fuller).”

Out of Sundance, IndieWire’s own Eric Kohn wrote that the film is a “visually entrancing and innovative fantasy” that was “shot on video and transferred to 16mm, [and] looks like some kind...

Alief has acquired international rights to the high-concept fantasy “Strawberry Mansion,” which world premiered at this year’s Sundance, where it was acquired by Music Box Films for North America, and by Periscoop Films for Benelux. Alief will be introducing the film to international buyers during June’s virtual Cannes market, and in person during July’s Marche Du Film.

“Strawberry Mansion” is written and directed by Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney. It stars Kentucker Audley, Reed Birney, Penny Fuller, Grace Glowicki and Linas Phillips.

The film is set in the not-too-distant future, where an all-seeing surveillance state conducts “dream audits” to collect taxes on the unconscious lives of the populace. Mild-mannered government agent James Preble (played by Audley) travels to a remote farmhouse to audit the dreams of Arabella “Bella” Isadora (Fuller), an eccentric, aging artist. Entering Bella’s vast VHS archive, which contains a lifetime of dreams, Preble...

Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s surreal sci-fi romantic comedy Strawberry Mansion reimagines the dystopia as something shockingly similar to our own world: a society where even our dreams are plagued with marketing and advertisement. The director duo also acted as editors for the film, and share the joy of working with post-vfx for the first time. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Birney: We’ve always edited our own work—it just seems like a natural part of our process. […]

The post "Eye-Opening How Much We Could Achieve in This Process": Editors Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney on Strawberry Mansion first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s surreal sci-fi romantic comedy Strawberry Mansion reimagines the dystopia as something shockingly similar to our own world: a society where even our dreams are plagued with marketing and advertisement. The director duo also acted as editors for the film, and share the joy of working with post-vfx for the first time. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Birney: We’ve always edited our own work—it just seems like a natural part of our process. […]

The post "Eye-Opening How Much We Could Achieve in This Process": Editors Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney on Strawberry Mansion first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s surreal sci-fi romantic comedy Strawberry Mansion reimagines the dystopia as something shockingly similar to our own world: a society where even our dreams are plagued with marketing and advertisement. Dp Tyler Davis shares what the team took from music videos and fantasy films like The NeverEnding Story to capture their dreamy, fantastical vision. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Davis: In early 2019 I met Albert Birney (one of the directors, along with Kentucker Audley, […]

The post "Toes the Line Between Dreams and Reality": Dp Tyler Davis on Strawberry Mansion first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s surreal sci-fi romantic comedy Strawberry Mansion reimagines the dystopia as something shockingly similar to our own world: a society where even our dreams are plagued with marketing and advertisement. Dp Tyler Davis shares what the team took from music videos and fantasy films like The NeverEnding Story to capture their dreamy, fantastical vision. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Davis: In early 2019 I met Albert Birney (one of the directors, along with Kentucker Audley, […]

The post "Toes the Line Between Dreams and Reality": Dp Tyler Davis on Strawberry Mansion first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

It’s a popular conception that there’s nothing more boring than hearing about other people’s dreams, which by rights should make James Preble — the meek, cutely mustachioed hero of “Strawberry Mansion” — the unfortunate owner of the world’s dullest job: He’s a tax auditor who has to scan his clients’ recorded dreams for hidden expenses. This makes a rough kind of sense in Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s endearingly cash-strapped sci-fi fantasia, set in a 2035 of papier-mâché futurism and defiant analog aesthetics — or rather, its senselessness is supported by the film’s fuzzy, absurd world-building.

Within its slight, rickety framework, however, “Strawberry Mansion” attempts to do rather a lot, shifting from prankish surrealist farce to fey, across-time love story, sometimes giving way to an anti-capitalist satire directed very much at the present moment. If it doesn’t really stick to any one order of business for long,...

No space is safe from the evils of monetization, insidiously prevalent marketing, advertising, and the propaganda of suggestive consumption. And in “Strawberry Mansion,” a surreal, idiosyncratic, feature-length film co-directed by Albert Birney and actor/filmmaker Kentucker Audley, the cynical, dystopian perspective says even your headspace will soon become fair game—not only for the government trying to squeeze an extra dollar out of your thinning wallet, but for those looking to exploit your dreams.

Continue reading ‘Strawberry Mansion’ Blurs Dystopian Dreams Of Monetization, Consumption & Love Into A Quirky Lo-Fi Surreal Swirl [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.

by Jason Adams

"Out of my hair and into my home, to enter you must lick the ice cream cone," is how one character greets another in the trippy and lovingly strange Strawberry Mansion from writer-directors Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney. That invitation gives y'all your gist -- if you wanna enter a movie that will bestow such a whimsical greeting upon you at the door then you're probably in the right place. And it only gets weirder once you've come in. It's up to you whether you're willing to let the Strawberry wash over you. Me, I was mostly tickled. Pinkish, you know...

Chicago – The 2021 Sundance Film Festival heads into Day Three after Opening Night and a full slate of films for Day Two. This year’s festival is virtual and online, meaning anyone with a ticket or a pass can indulge in the film offerings throughout the festival, which runs until February 3rd.

For the premieres of 2021, the cutting edge potential influencer films and all the ancillary new voice filmmakers, the Sundance Film Festival is the one that begins every film year with the movies that ultimately become the talk of the town and the gatherer of year end awards. Your ticket to the festival is your chance to see these films and filmmakers before the general public.

Strawberry Mansion

Photo credit: Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is an annual event organized by the Sundance Institute – an organization founded by actor Robert Redford in 1980 – and dedicated to the growth of independent artists.

There have been countless movies about dreams, but “Strawberry Mansion” is the only one save for “Inception” that turns them into a hustle. In this visually entrancing and innovative fantasy from co-directors Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney, the government forces citizens to record their nighttime journeys and imposes taxes on the unpredictable ingredients found within. Audley and Birney, who previously made the lo-fi comic odyssey “Sylvio” about a lonely gorilla with an online talk show, excel at grounding outlandish concepts in genuine emotional stakes.

“Sylvio” was just strange and charming enough to show the potential of a silly-poignant balance unique to their combined talent; “Strawberry Mansion” gets there, with a delightful and innovative oddball journey that overcomes its zany twists by taking them seriously. It doesn’t always work, but there’s so much fun in watching the gears turn that it hardly matters.

Shot on video and transferred to 16mm,...

What if the government didn’t strictly tax your paychecks and transactions, but your dreams as well? With their vibrant, imaginative, and genre-melding new film Strawberry Mansion, directors Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley envision this reality in the near-future of 2035, but with their clear admiration for analog technology, it could just as well take place in an alternate timeline recalling decades past. Following a dream auditor named James Preble (Audley) who ventures to a remote farmhouse for his latest assignment, he’s tasked with auditing the dreams of the eccentric, elderly Bella (Penny Fuller), who has failed to file hers for decades. Fondly recalling Michel Gondry’s Science of Sleep as reality and dreams start to meld, the film is equal parts lovely and frightening as it explores romantic bliss, destructive capitalism, and the significance of the subconscious state we all spend a third of our lives experiencing.

Skirting around...

It’s rare for an independent film to be as gentle and childlike as Strawberry Mansion, the second feature collaboration from writing-directing team Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney. The filmmakers, who have made a number of movies separately, established their whimsical partnership with Sylvio, a similarly quirky comedy about a kind, misunderstood gorilla who loves puppets. That film introduced us to Audley and Birney’s quiet, candy-colored world characterized by curiosity and warmth. Strawberry Mansion is a journey into our dreams, finding beauty within our rambling minds.

The film tells the story of James Preble (played by Audley), a lonely man living in the year ...

It’s rare for an independent film to be as gentle and childlike as Strawberry Mansion, the second feature collaboration from writing-directing team Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney. The filmmakers, who have made a number of movies separately, established their whimsical partnership with Sylvio, a similarly quirky comedy about a kind, misunderstood gorilla who loves puppets. That film introduced us to Audley and Birney’s quiet, candy-colored world characterized by curiosity and warmth. Strawberry Mansion is a journey into our dreams, finding beauty within our rambling minds.

The film tells the story of James Preble (played by Audley), a lonely man living in the year ...

While this year's Sundance Film Festival will be experienced differently in the era of Covid-19 (with virtual screenings taking place online and in-person screenings taking place with safety precautions in select theaters across the country), the cinema celebration will continue to highlight vital, impactful, and innovative creators behind and in front of the camera, with more than 70 feature films included in the festival's full lineup.

We've highlighted some of the genre films horror fans can look forward to from the official press release below. Stay tuned to Daily Dead for our upcoming coverage of the festival (taking place January 28th–February 3rd), and visit Sundance's website for more details.

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet / Argentina — Sebastian, a man in his thirties, works a series of temporary jobs and he embraces love at every opportunity. He transforms, through a series of short encounters, as the world flirts with possible apocalypse.