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Following Montreal\u2019s 2023 Fronti\u00e8res Market, New York sales agent Visit Films has scooped world sales rights to \u201cBooger,\u201d headlining \u201cStrawberry Mansion\u201d star Grace Glowicki and exec produced by Ley Line Ent. and Neon Heart Productions, behind \u201cEverything Everywhere All at Once\u201d and \u201cShiva Baby\u201d respectively.<\/p>\n
A sometimes excruciating genre bending and blending body horror comedy about intense early adult friendship and grief at its loss, \u201cBooger\u201d is wrapped in a tale of supernatural transformation. Marking the feature debut of Mary Dauterman, it world premiered July 24 in the Underground section of Montreal\u2019s Fantasia Film Festival, the biggest genre fest in North America.<\/p>\n
\u201cBooger\u201d is produced by Lexi Tannenholtz (Shudder\u2019s \u201cBad Things\u201d) and executive produced by Neon Heart Productions (\u201cCora Bora\u201d), Ley Line Entertainment (A24\u2019s \u201cEverything Everywhere All At Once\u201d), Sanctuary Content, One Two Twenty Entertainment (Oscilloscope\u2019s \u201cJoyland\u201d) and Lizzie Shapiro (Utopia\u2019s \u201cShiva Baby\u201d).<\/p>\n
Written by Dauterman, \u201cBooger\u201d continues her exploration of trauma. In her short \u201cWakey, Wakey,\u201d starring Rachel Sennott, which played Fantasia and Fantastic Fest in 2019, a young girl tries to wake up her boyfriend to throw him out of their flat after a violent argument, but, as the room darkens, the b.f. brings out a big suitcase and packs the girl in it instead. <\/p>\n
Then she wakes up; her b.f. seems loving; he goes to pack, but when he brings out his black suitcase, she stabs him.<\/p>\n
Likewise in \u201cBooger\u201d trauma provokes psychosis which tips into genre and fantasy, underscoring the enormousness of what\u2019s causing it, here the death of Anna\u2019s best friend Izzy. <\/p>\n
After Booger, Izzy\u2019s cat, runs away, Anna launches a desperate neighbourhood search to find him; after a cat bite, which creates a festering scar on her hand, her body begins to adopt certain cat characteristics \u2013 a hair, for instance, begins to grow out of the wound which, in one of the film\u2019s highnotes of body horror, she tries to pull out.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, although Anna hardly seems to notice, her work life and relationship with loving boyfriend Max steadily fall apart.<\/p>\n
The film also features Garrick Bernard (\u201cSingle Drunk Female\u201d), Marcia DeBonis (\u201cSometimes I Think About Dying,\u201d \u201c13 Going on 30\u201d), Sofia Dobrushin (\u201cWeCrashed\u201d), David Rysdahl (\u201cOppenheimer\u201d), and admired horror stalwart Heather Matarazzo (\u201cWelcome to the Dollhouse,\u201d \u201cScream\u201d). <\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Booger\u2019 is a disgusting comedy about grief. Or a body horror that\u2019s funny and sad. Or a tragedy that makes you laugh and squirm,\u201d said Dauterman. \u201cIt\u2019s the nuanced story I wanted to tell about the joys of friendship, the pain of loss, and the dizzying search back to your center after a crisis. I feel so lucky to partner with Visit to bring \u2018Booger\u2019 to the world. Being among the films on their roster is an honor.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you watch a movie and say \u2018eeeewwww,\u2019 but in a very good way,\u201d said Visit\u2019s President Ryan Kampe. \u201cMary and Grace have worked on crafting a masterpiece of body-horror and cringe worthy humor. The film fits in very well with our other titles that pioneered moments in cinema like \u2018Trash Humpers\u2019 and \u2018It Follows,\u2019 and we can\u2019t wait for buyers to join us on this journey.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dauterman\u2019s work has been selected for multiple Vimeo Staff Picks and featured on NoBudge, as well as honored by the Webbys. She has been commissioned by both Adult Swim and Hulu to write and direct shorts for their platforms. Variety chatted to Dauterman just before \u201cBooger\u2019s\u201d world premiere.<\/p>\n
The film\u2019s key event, of course, is Anna\u2019s physical transformation. One explanation, if spectators are looking for explanations, is that this suggests the absolutely wrenching transformation of a person who\u2019s left living after the end of such an intense relationship between two female friends such as Anna and Izzy.<\/p>\n
Everything that\u2019s going on inside Anna mentally is manifesting physically. She\u2019s never going to be the same after Izzy\u2019s death, so while on one level she\u2019s unaware of what\u2019s going on with her, she can\u2019t ignore it totally because she\u2019s literally vomiting up disgusting hair and bile.<\/p>\n
Another reading is that the transformation and desperate search for Booger is one way for Anna to feel closer to Izzy\u2026.<\/p>\n
Linear time and space aren\u2019t and can\u2019t make sense anymore because she\u2019s rejecting what happened. Memories are kind of free floating and revisited. And Booger feels like a core element that represents their relationship and their having a home together. So she\u2019s grasping so strongly at finding him. The transformation into this creature is definitely her rejection of reality.<\/p>\n
The movie\u2019s genre tropes build as Anna declines. Yet that decline is frequently funny, and there are moments of slice of life Brooklyn realism as Anna talks to the landlord or goes round to the local pet shop. This mashup of tones seem to have escalated in recent years in many films: \u201cStrawberry Mansion\u201d would be one instance. In your case, you mix it up constantly, even in single scenes\u2026.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a combination of a lot of references and things I like. I also feel that it\u2019s my background, the way I like telling stories, which is normally more visual and surreal. I like bringing humor at surprising times to the supernatural or elevated genre. If you look at my shorts, \u201cWakey, Wakey\u201d and \u201cUnfinished Business\u201d which is like a supernatural dance film, both of them are tonally a mishmash of genres: Comedy, thriller, horror, supernatural, and that laid the groundwork for my aesthetic.<\/p>\n
Which emerges strongly in \u201cBooger\u201d\u2026..<\/p>\n
It has a lot of emotional sequences, but a lot of depth of feeling comes from really strange things happening to the character. That\u2019s partially how it was written and how I envisioned it, and partially because Grace Glowicki, the lead actor, is extremely physical and what she can do without any words is incredible. In terms of the mixed tonality, my producer Lexi has been describing it as \u201cFrancis Ha\u201d directed by David Cronenberg, which I really love.<\/p>\n
Your two main executive production companies are Ley Line Ent. and Neon Heart Ent., behind \u201cEverything Everywhere All at Once\u201d and \u201cShiva Baby\u201d respectively. How did you attract such companies for your debut?<\/p>\n
It really all came from meeting people at film festivals. I have a connection with Neon Heart through a fellow filmmaker friend, Tristan Scott-Behrends, who works there. We met at the Maryland Film Festival years ago as short film filmmakers making weird kinds of midnight shorts. He sent the script to Neon Heart founder Rhianon Jones who was really interested in the story. She was the first person on board and super supportive, which felt incredible because they\u2019ve done some really great work. Then Ley Line came into the picture, when my producer, Lexi Tannenholtz, met Theresa Steele Page at SXSW, and they have been beyond incredible to work with along with Sanctuary Content and One Two Twenty Entertainment. It\u2019s the best team I could ask for. <\/p>\n
They came in based on the screenplay? <\/p>\n
Yes, they all came in based on the screenplay. The entire executive producer team has been so supportive from the start, really trusting my creative vision.<\/p>\n
View this article at Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Grace Glowicki-Starrer \u2018Booger,\u2019 From \u2018Everything Everywhere,\u2019 \u2018Shiva Baby\u2019 Exec Producers, Boarded by Visit Films (EXCLUSIVE): Following Montreal\u2019s 2023 Fronti\u00e8res Market, New York sales agent Visit Films has scooped world sales rights to \u201cBooger,\u201d headlining \u201cStrawberry Mansion\u201d star Grace Glowicki and exec produced by Ley Line Ent. and Neon Heart Productions, behind \u201cEverything Everywhere All at
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