News

The tension within Ryan J. Sloan’s indie directorial debut “Gazer” is almost unparalleled: Of course the IndieWire review pointed to comparisons between Martin Scorsese, David Cronenberg, Brian De Palma, and Christopher Nolan when it came to decoding just how thrilling the feature is.

“Gazer,” which was among our favorite movies at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, premiered during the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. Metrograph Pictures later acquired the North American rights to the neo-noir heist thriller, with Head of Metrograph Pictures David Laub saying in a press statement just how much writer/director Sloan’s vision echoes cinema history.

“‘Gazer’ is a movie born of cinema and those who love it,” Laub said, deeming the feature “a brilliant homage to the unforgettable New York thrillers of the 1970s and 1980s.”

Well, we couldn’t agree more. Sloan, who co-wrote the film with breakout lead star Ariella Mastroianni, filmed “Gazer” over weekends...

Ryan J. Sloan’s “Gazer” is a classic thriller that will surely have Cannes audiences on the edge of their seats when it world premieres in competition in Directors’ Fortnight at this year’s festival.

Set in New Jersey and starring Sloan’s partner Ariella Mastroianni, “Gazer” is the story of Frankie, a young mother with a rare degenerative brain condition called dyschronometria. The disease causes her to struggle to perceive time, which makes holding down a steady job nearly impossible. So, when a mysterious woman offers her a risky job, she takes it, unaware of the dark consequences of her decision.

While the thematic notes of a classic Hitchcockian thriller are plain to see on screen, one thing that really sets “Gazer” apart from most films – especially American films – that make it to Cannes is that the project was entirely self-financed and produced.

There were no production companies (apart...