Festival Predictions

2015 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Fidel Ruiz-Healy & Tyler Walker’s Homefront

Published on November 12, 2014

It’s got a heavyweight studio sounding title (perhaps it has to do with Gary Fleder’s 2013 number about folk getting stuck in the crosshairs), but in reality, Homefront is micro-budgeted (raised some funds via Kickstarter) microscopic parodical treatment of wartime family dysfunction. Helmers Fidel Ruiz-Healy and Tyler Walker have been cutting their teeth and learning their craft via several smaller gigs (one cred includes John Magary’s The Mend) and it got me curious when it was included as part of selected works shown at Poland’s US in Progress this past October. If well packaged, this would definitely be a needle in a haystack selection.

Gist: Douglas and Caroline live in a secluded house in the country with their parents Cindy and James. Years have passed since a new World War reached American soil yet the family continues their daily routine. As the war gets closer and supplies begin to dwindle, tensions rise within the family. Their last hopes of maintaining their uneasy peace is threatened when their refugee uncle arrives only two steps ahead of the invaders.

Production Co./Producers: Taylor Shung & Sofia Rosenzweig

Prediction: NEXT Section would be a nice fit, it’ll likely have more SXSW Film Fest potential.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. Insert (domestic). TBD (international)

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Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).