Beloved indie filmmaker Joel Potrykus is back onscreen in a multi-hyphenate array of roles for his latest feature, “Vulcanizadora.”
Billed as a dark comedy, “Vulcanizadora” follows two friends, played by Potrykus and Joshua Burge, who embark on a disturbing mission in the Michigan woods to fulfill a disturbing pact. After they fail, one of them must return home to deal with the surreal legal and emotional repercussions after the plan ultimately unravels. Bill Vincent and Solo Potrykus co-star.
“Relaxer” filmmaker Joel Potrykus writes, directs, edits, and leads the feature, which is produced by Hannah Dweck, Matt Grady, Ashley Potrykus, and Theodore Schaefer, with Daniel Berger as an associate producer and Kevin Clancy co-producing. The film is shot in 16mm.
“To me, ‘Vulcanizadora’ is my most personal and my bleakest work,” Potrykus told IndieWire. “It has a weird tone that I’ve been trying to hit for a long time. It...
Billed as a dark comedy, “Vulcanizadora” follows two friends, played by Potrykus and Joshua Burge, who embark on a disturbing mission in the Michigan woods to fulfill a disturbing pact. After they fail, one of them must return home to deal with the surreal legal and emotional repercussions after the plan ultimately unravels. Bill Vincent and Solo Potrykus co-star.
“Relaxer” filmmaker Joel Potrykus writes, directs, edits, and leads the feature, which is produced by Hannah Dweck, Matt Grady, Ashley Potrykus, and Theodore Schaefer, with Daniel Berger as an associate producer and Kevin Clancy co-producing. The film is shot in 16mm.
“To me, ‘Vulcanizadora’ is my most personal and my bleakest work,” Potrykus told IndieWire. “It has a weird tone that I’ve been trying to hit for a long time. It...
- 6/4/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Level 33 Entertainment has taken domestic on H.P. Mendoza’s The Secret Art of Human Flight, which made its world premiere at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival. A July theatrical release has been set followed by a debut on digital platforms.
Pic written by Jesse Orenshein centers around a children’s book author, Ben Grady (Grant Rosenmeyer), who mourning the loss of his wife stumbles upon a self-help manifesto written by an eccentric guru calling himself “Mealworm” that promises to unlock the power to fly. The book arrives… and so does Mealworm, forcing Ben to navigate his family life, accusations of foul play, and the bizarre rituals laid before him in the hopes of healing and, just maybe, achieving flight. Pic also stars Lucy DeVito (Little Demon), Nican Robinson (Ahsoka), Rosa Arredondo (So Help Me Todd...
Pic written by Jesse Orenshein centers around a children’s book author, Ben Grady (Grant Rosenmeyer), who mourning the loss of his wife stumbles upon a self-help manifesto written by an eccentric guru calling himself “Mealworm” that promises to unlock the power to fly. The book arrives… and so does Mealworm, forcing Ben to navigate his family life, accusations of foul play, and the bizarre rituals laid before him in the hopes of healing and, just maybe, achieving flight. Pic also stars Lucy DeVito (Little Demon), Nican Robinson (Ahsoka), Rosa Arredondo (So Help Me Todd...
- 3/19/2024
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Isabel Hagen’s Indie dramedy On A String just wrapped principal photography in New York City.
Musician-turned-comedian Hagen (writer-director) stars alongside Dylan Baker, Frederick Weller, Eric Bogosian & Emmy Winner Jamie Lee (HBO’s Crashing). Concert violinist and author Ling Ling Huang (Natural Beauty) also stars with newcomer John Kroner and Charlotte Ray Rosenberg. Hagen is known for her late-night appearances on Jimmy Fallon, and as a New Face of Comedy in 2019 for the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.
Inspired by Hagen’s real-life experiences, the pic follows a recent Juilliard graduate and classical violist (Hagen) who now plays unconventional gigs in New York City that insert her into the personal lives of strangers and entangle her with the married father (Weller) of her violin student.
Musician-turned-comedian Hagen (writer-director) stars alongside Dylan Baker, Frederick Weller, Eric Bogosian & Emmy Winner Jamie Lee (HBO’s Crashing). Concert violinist and author Ling Ling Huang (Natural Beauty) also stars with newcomer John Kroner and Charlotte Ray Rosenberg. Hagen is known for her late-night appearances on Jimmy Fallon, and as a New Face of Comedy in 2019 for the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.
Inspired by Hagen’s real-life experiences, the pic follows a recent Juilliard graduate and classical violist (Hagen) who now plays unconventional gigs in New York City that insert her into the personal lives of strangers and entangle her with the married father (Weller) of her violin student.
- 12/8/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Dweck Productions has joined Joel Potrykus’ upcoming dark comedy feature “Vulcanizadora” which will star Joshua Burge.
“Vulcanizadora” will be written and directed by Potrykus, marking his fifth feature and fourth collaboration with Burge following “Ape,” “Buzzard” and “Relaxer.” Plot details for the feature have been kept under wraps with production commencing this summer in Michigan. Dweck joins the project as both producer and financier.
“‘Vulcanizadora’ is a mind bending ride of comedy, suspense and utter devastation, and we are thrilled to be producing the bold and daring fifth feature of the great Joel Potrykus,” said Dweck founder Hannah Dweck. “This is the exact type of boundary pushing, genre bending film we love to help bring to the screen. We can’t wait to watch this with an audience.”
Matt Grady, founder of independent film production and distribution company Factory 25, will produce “Vulcanizadora” alongside Ashley Potrykus and Dan Berger.
“I...
“Vulcanizadora” will be written and directed by Potrykus, marking his fifth feature and fourth collaboration with Burge following “Ape,” “Buzzard” and “Relaxer.” Plot details for the feature have been kept under wraps with production commencing this summer in Michigan. Dweck joins the project as both producer and financier.
“‘Vulcanizadora’ is a mind bending ride of comedy, suspense and utter devastation, and we are thrilled to be producing the bold and daring fifth feature of the great Joel Potrykus,” said Dweck founder Hannah Dweck. “This is the exact type of boundary pushing, genre bending film we love to help bring to the screen. We can’t wait to watch this with an audience.”
Matt Grady, founder of independent film production and distribution company Factory 25, will produce “Vulcanizadora” alongside Ashley Potrykus and Dan Berger.
“I...
- 5/22/2023
- by McKinley Franklin
- Variety Film + TV
New to Streaming: Pacifiction, R.M.N., Millennium Mambo, Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV & More
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.
Chez Jolie Coiffure (Rosine Mbakam)
A vérité vignette of a small, expat-owned hair salon in Brussels’ African Quarter. Award-winning Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam’s sophomore feature explores displacement, resilience, and the small economies migrants build to temper ties to their homelands, through mid-braid gossip and humble confessions.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
Giving Birth to a Butterfly (Theodore Schaefer)
We meet Diana Dent (Annie Parisse) readying matching wedding gowns soon revealed as not her own. She’s mending them to sell online—a necessity considering her bull-headed and controlling husband Daryl (Paul Sparks) is hell-bent on putting their life savings towards a dream of creating his own restaurant. That means no money for Drew (Owen Campbell) or Danielle’s (Rachel Resheff) college.
Chez Jolie Coiffure (Rosine Mbakam)
A vérité vignette of a small, expat-owned hair salon in Brussels’ African Quarter. Award-winning Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam’s sophomore feature explores displacement, resilience, and the small economies migrants build to temper ties to their homelands, through mid-braid gossip and humble confessions.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
Giving Birth to a Butterfly (Theodore Schaefer)
We meet Diana Dent (Annie Parisse) readying matching wedding gowns soon revealed as not her own. She’s mending them to sell online—a necessity considering her bull-headed and controlling husband Daryl (Paul Sparks) is hell-bent on putting their life savings towards a dream of creating his own restaurant. That means no money for Drew (Owen Campbell) or Danielle’s (Rachel Resheff) college.
- 5/19/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Tolstoy once famously wrote that every unhappy family is unhappy in their own way. You could substitute the word 'unhappy' for 'eccentric' or 'detached from reality'. It's not uncommon for married couples, and their children as they grow into their teen and early adult years, to find themselves separated in wants and needs, the result of personalities that evolve overtime, and more often than not in the contemporary world, the problems of simply trying to exist without constant worry about money and survival. What would our identities and existences be if we didn't have these pressures on us, if we were completely divorced from family obligations? Giving Birth to a Butterfly, the feature debut of director and co-writer Theodore Schaefer, follows an odd road trip...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 5/10/2023
- Screen Anarchy
The suburbs are often touted as nice, normal places, when really they are anything but. They always a feeling of falseness, of artificiality and a forced kind of community that is anything but, and a place that is so easy to be lost in. No wonder American films, in particular, have shown the true weirdness of these spaces and the affect they have on the people. Then there's the road trip - while common across cinemas, the vast distances in North America lend itself again, to the weirdness that comes from isolation. And these two worlds seem to collide in Theodore Schaefer's Giving Birth to a Butterfly. After its premiere in 2021 at Fantasia, we're glad to see that Cinedigm has picked it up for...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 4/26/2023
- Screen Anarchy
"I got scammed, Marlene, that's why we're doing this." Cinedigm has revealed a trailer for an experimental indie film titled Giving Birth to a Butterfly, marking the feature directorial debut of Theodore Schaefer. It first premiered in 2021 at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, and is finally getting a proper release after waiting a few years - it's streaming on Fandor this May. "Pure weirdo magic. Like Donnie Darko meets Twin Peaks." After having her identity stolen, a woman, and her son's pregnant girlfriend, bond together on a surreal journey as they attempt to track down the perpetrators. Described by The Austin Chronicle as “a strange and fragile story of family, identity, and the unlikely directions of a search for self," Giving Birth to a Butterfly "mixes melancholy and anxiety with a Lynchian touch" and "takes place in a parallel universe that looks and acts like suburbia, just ever so slightly off.
- 4/13/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
One of the highlights we caught at Fantasia International Film Festival in 2021 now has a home and it’s arriving sooner than expected. Theodore Schaefer’s debut feature Giving Birth to a Butterfly has been picked up by Cinedigm, who will release it in select theaters beginning May 1 before premiering on Fandor on May 16. The Lynchian fantasy tale, shot on 16mm, follows Annie Parisse as a suburban mom whose identity gets stolen. She begins to bond with her son’s pregnant girlfriend (Gus Birney) when they take a dreamlike, visually immersive road-trip journey to track down the perpetrators. Ahead of the release, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the trailer.
“Tapping into a nervous dream logic that still resembles the mad world we exist in, Giving Birth to a Butterfly is one of the most cine-literate American debuts I’ve seen in a while,” said Aaron Hillis, Director of Programming for Cinedigm.
“Tapping into a nervous dream logic that still resembles the mad world we exist in, Giving Birth to a Butterfly is one of the most cine-literate American debuts I’ve seen in a while,” said Aaron Hillis, Director of Programming for Cinedigm.
- 4/13/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Limited theatrical release planned for May.
Cinedigm has acquired North American rights to Fantasia International Film Festival road movie Giving Birth To A Butterfly, which marks the feature directorial debut of Theodore Schaefer who produced Berlinale selection The Adults.
Annie Parisse plays a woman whose identity gets stolen and bonds with her son’s pregnant girlfriend (Gus Birney) as they search for the perpetrators on a dreamlike road trip. Paul Sparks, Owen Campbell, Jessica Pimentel, and Judith Roberts round out the key cast.
Cinedigm plans a limited US theatrical release in May ahead of a digital release on its indie...
Cinedigm has acquired North American rights to Fantasia International Film Festival road movie Giving Birth To A Butterfly, which marks the feature directorial debut of Theodore Schaefer who produced Berlinale selection The Adults.
Annie Parisse plays a woman whose identity gets stolen and bonds with her son’s pregnant girlfriend (Gus Birney) as they search for the perpetrators on a dreamlike road trip. Paul Sparks, Owen Campbell, Jessica Pimentel, and Judith Roberts round out the key cast.
Cinedigm plans a limited US theatrical release in May ahead of a digital release on its indie...
- 4/11/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Jessica Pimentel (Orange Is the New Black) is set as a lead opposite Aubrey Plaza, Ramón Rodríguez and Wanda De Jesús in Olga Dies Dreaming, Hulu’s one-hour drama pilot based on the novel by Xochitl Gonzalez.
The pilot for Olga Dies Dreaming, written by Gonzalez and to be directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, tells the story of a Nuyorican brother (Rodríguez) and sister (Plaza) from a gentrifying Sunset Park in Brooklyn who are reckoning with their absent, politically radical mother (De Jesús) and their glittering careers among New York City’s elite in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
Pimentel will play Mabel Ortiz, who is as street smart as she is book smart. She loves a good time; the first on a dance floor and the last off. She has opinions and isn’t afraid to express them, and she refuses to take the time to wrap them in a nice bow.
The pilot for Olga Dies Dreaming, written by Gonzalez and to be directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, tells the story of a Nuyorican brother (Rodríguez) and sister (Plaza) from a gentrifying Sunset Park in Brooklyn who are reckoning with their absent, politically radical mother (De Jesús) and their glittering careers among New York City’s elite in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
Pimentel will play Mabel Ortiz, who is as street smart as she is book smart. She loves a good time; the first on a dance floor and the last off. She has opinions and isn’t afraid to express them, and she refuses to take the time to wrap them in a nice bow.
- 9/7/2021
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
We meet Diana Dent (Annie Parisse) readying matching wedding gowns soon revealed as not her own. She’s mending them to sell online—a necessity considering her bull-headed and controlling husband Daryl (Paul Sparks) is hell-bent on putting their life savings towards a dream of creating his own restaurant. That means no money for Drew (Owen Campbell) or Danielle’s (Rachel Resheff) college. No money to stop working extra hours at the pharmacy. No money for anything besides his selfish need to break free of a constrained life as if he’s the only one struggling to come up for air. So Diana looks to liquidate what she can while hiding the act in the knowledge that Daryl would inevitably find a way to make her feel bad about doing it.
Director Theodore Schaefer and co-writer Patrick Lawler ensure that we recognize the relatable mixture of melancholy and anxiety. They...
Director Theodore Schaefer and co-writer Patrick Lawler ensure that we recognize the relatable mixture of melancholy and anxiety. They...
- 8/10/2021
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Hand painted posters are all the rage for indie films playing at Fantasia this year. We are pleased to share with you the first look at the festival poster for Theodore Schaefer's Giving Birth to a Butterfly. The film is having its premiere in the Underground Section today! The image itself has been lifted from the film, a shot of Diana and her son's girlfriend, Marlene, that we've seen in all press releases up to now. Befitting of a film that is described as "... a unique and bewitching mix of American surrealism, ironic absurdist comedy, and the staples of the road trip genre", this interpretation of that captured image feels appropriate. After having her identity stolen online, Diana Dent leaves her...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 8/9/2021
- Screen Anarchy
Giving Birth to a Butterfly, the debut feature from Theodore Schaefer, will have its world premiere at Fantasia during its opening weekend. Earlier today an exclusive clip was shared by Variety. We can share that little nugget of surreality with you now, down below. After having her identity stolen online, Diana Dent leaves her family and goes on a road trip with her son’s pregnant girlfriend to track down the perpetrators. The mismatched travel companions form an unexpected bond as they concede to the hardships of their own lives, and their hunt for answers becomes a surreal journey of self-discovery and empowerment. The setup, according to the article at Variety, is that the central character to this story Diana, "...meets Marlene’s mother, who...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/30/2021
- Screen Anarchy
Starring Annie Parisse and Gus Birney (“Dickinson”), Theodore Schaefer’s “Giving Birth to a Butterfly,” one of the buzz titles at August’s Fantasia Intl. Film Festival, has released a first clip ahead of the film’s world premiere in Fantasia Underground section on Aug. 9.
Produced by Daryl Freimark, “Giving Birth to a Butterfly,” is executive produced by Hannah Dweck for Dweck Productions and by Benjamin Wiessner, who is additionally handling sales for Vanishing Angle.
Written by Schaefer and Patrick Lawler, the feature debut underscores how new generation of highly cine-literate filmmakers blend multiple styles not only over the course of a film but in single scenes.
In “Giving Birth to a Butterfly,” Diana Dent, a put-upon housewife and mother of two, married to a feckless husband, suffers credit card fraud from a company which is registered at an address a full-day’s drive from where Diana lives.
Diana drops...
Produced by Daryl Freimark, “Giving Birth to a Butterfly,” is executive produced by Hannah Dweck for Dweck Productions and by Benjamin Wiessner, who is additionally handling sales for Vanishing Angle.
Written by Schaefer and Patrick Lawler, the feature debut underscores how new generation of highly cine-literate filmmakers blend multiple styles not only over the course of a film but in single scenes.
In “Giving Birth to a Butterfly,” Diana Dent, a put-upon housewife and mother of two, married to a feckless husband, suffers credit card fraud from a company which is registered at an address a full-day’s drive from where Diana lives.
Diana drops...
- 7/29/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Quebec’s Fantasia Festival has unveiled the third and final wave of titles set to screen at this year’s 25th edition and announced that Takashi Miike’s latest feature “The Great Yokai War – Guardians,” will close the festival. The world premiere of Julien Knafo’s Quebec zombie flic “Brain Freeze” will open the festival following an Aug. 4 pre-fest screening of James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad.”
“The Great Yokai War- Guardians” is the follow-up to Fantasia 2006 opener “The Great Yoki War,” and unspools in a fantasy world of Japanese demons, kaiju and pop culture references which proved a hit in Montreal the first time around.
Other key titles featured in the third wave lineup include Lee Won-tae’s “The Devil’s Deal,” his first film since “The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” won Sitges’ best film award in 2019. BAFTA-winner Paul Andrew Williams’ (“Murdered for Being Different”) “Bull,” a revenge thriller,...
“The Great Yokai War- Guardians” is the follow-up to Fantasia 2006 opener “The Great Yoki War,” and unspools in a fantasy world of Japanese demons, kaiju and pop culture references which proved a hit in Montreal the first time around.
Other key titles featured in the third wave lineup include Lee Won-tae’s “The Devil’s Deal,” his first film since “The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” won Sitges’ best film award in 2019. BAFTA-winner Paul Andrew Williams’ (“Murdered for Being Different”) “Bull,” a revenge thriller,...
- 7/21/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
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