A Film by HARRiSON ATKiNS2015 / USA / English / Horror, Comedy

83 min/ HD / 2:39 / Dolby 5.1

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LOGLINEDuring a drug-fueled weekend with friends, Ruth has a one-night stand with a ghost. Soon after, she begins to feel a bit...strange.

SYNOPSISAll Ruth wanted was to get away for the weekend. Escaping to the Hamptons with friends after a bad breakup, she finds an unexpected connection with Michael, a stranger who shows up in her room one boozy night. They have great chemistry, and she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him. There’s only one problem: Michael’s a ghost, and a one night stand with him leaves Ruth with aftereffects that can only be described as supernatural. As she suffers through mucous-laden night sweats, glitchy hallucinations, and the occasional tar-black ooze, her friends become too disgusted to support her. Ruth must figure out for herself if she can reintegrate into society - or if she even wants to. FESTIVALSToronto International Film Festival // SITGES // Fantasia International Film Festival

PRESS“A thoroughly modern ghost story (...) testing the audience as it wavers between terrifying and

deadpan funny.” - LA Times

“Ms. Burdge — all quicksilver emotion and exposed nerve endings — is an endlessly watchable focal point.” - The New York Times

“A real breath of fresh air in a genre that can sometimes feel stale.” - Modern Horrors

“Draw(s) not only from the lo-fi snapshots of early comedies by Bujalski and Swanberg but, yes, even the psychological horror of Polanski.” - Newcity

“With a debut this memorable (...) Atkins will be one to watch.” - Paper Mag

“[A] quirky tale of paranormal contact.” - The Hollywood Reporter

“S-s-s-spooky and inventive.” - Cinema Scope

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENTLace Crater is a further exploration of my interest in deep, asymptotic intimacies, closenesses that verge on singularity, and the impossible reconciliation between the human desire for perfect mutual understanding and the inherent limitation of individual subjectivity. In this case, the central intimacy of the film is juxtaposed against Ruth’s decaying body, fragmenting social context, and radioactive psychic experience. This film felt sublime to make, and I have a menagerie of friends and collabo-rators to thank for helping manifest this strange thing in the world. The trust and love of my crew of friends over the course of the shoot constantly surprised and humbled me.

Q&A WITH THE DIRECTORTell us about the origins of Lace Crater.I guess the genesis of the movie came from an almost experimental premise: what would happen if you combine the darkest, most dread-inducing horror film with something kind of talky and cerebral and relationship-based. I was watching Begotten by E Elias Merhige. It’s just this really hardcore, grainy, black-and-white, grotesque horror movie. There’s no dialogue - just cricket sounds through the whole thing, and most of the characters are faceless cannibals. I was watching that movie and I started thinking, what if Whit Stillman or Woody Allen directed something like this, and it was sort of a comedy? That was probably one of the first origins of Lace Crater. But then there were other points of entry, too. I had been kicking around the idea of making a film about a ghost for a long time; I’ve just had this prevailing interest in exploring that formal or aesthetic element in narratives for a while, and I thought this melodramatic concept of exploring an intimacy with a ghost could be really inter-esting.

How would you describe the tone of the film?I was really interested in juxtaposing different tones against one another to see if we could make something new. It sometimes felt like walking a tightrope, but luckily all of the cast and crew were really on the same page, and I think we found a sort of weird groove. There’s kind of this naturalism thing going on, but that’s juxtaposed against all of these points of surrealism and absurdity. And that combination feels really funny to me, but also sometimes really scary. Lace Crater is kind of a mys-tery, kind of a romance, kind of a horror film, kind of a comedy, kind of something else.

How did Joe Swanberg join the project, and how do you think he influenced the final film?I’ve known Joe for years, and he jumped on as a producer of the film after I had first started to de-velop it. He was an amazing resource, not just because he has made so many movies, but also be-cause he makes movies in the right way, really respecting of the process and understanding of the experience. He wanted to give me the artistic space to make the film the way it needed to be, which felt like such a luxury for my first feature, while simultaneously helping the movie to be healthy, and kind of shepherding the process along. On another level, I think I’ve certainly been influenced by his body of work.

How did you decide to cast Lindsay Burdge as your protagonist?I met Lindsay on my friend Chris Osborn’s short film Sisters, and we really vibed. I knew I wanted to work with her, and when Lace Crater started coming together, she was my first choice for Ruth. I think she’s a mind-blowing actor; she has an extremely complicated mind, and that totally manifests in the depth of her performances. I also really wanted to collaborate with an actor with whom I felt like I was on the same page. I think Lindsay’s work really elevated the film. I think she’s a great artist.

Describe the music choices for the film and your collaboration with Alan Palomo of Neon Indian.I was listening to this Japanese artist named Aki Tsuyuko during the gestation of the film, and real-ly connected to the tonal landscape of her music and wanted to geolocate the film somewhere in that range. Simultaneously, I knew I wanted to work with Alan because he has such a brilliant artistic mind, is really engaged with cinema, really gets it. We were sending one another tracks throughout the writing process, kind of honing in together on the wavelength of the movie. We were both inter-ested in blurring the line between music and abstract sound, and I feel like a lot of Alan’s work in the film veers into this really interesting, murky territory between one and the other.

As a young filmmaker coming out of Northwestern University, what kind of projects are you interested in making? What stories do you want to tell?I love weird movies - I’m interested in the weirdest movies out there. In general I want to make narra-tives that access new tones, moods, textures, and feelings, because that’s the potential that I believe cinema has. In fact, that’s my favorite thing to think about. I’m hoping to make films that I would want to see –– from really dumb, gaggy, absurd comedies to character-based relationship movies. Horror films are really interesting too; there’s a lot of potential for experimental formal language in horror filmmaking, and I find that really exciting.

Harrison Atkins Director, Writer, EditorHarrison Atkins is an American independent filmmaker. His short film Chocolate Heart premiered at SXSW in 2014, and screened at international festivals including Sarasota, Maryland, and Marfa. His next short Blissful Banquet pre-miered at the 2015 Maryland Film Festival, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Oak Cliff Film Festival, and is a Vimeo Staff Pick. Lace Crater is his first feature film.

Which movies inspire you in general, and which inspired Lace Crater specifically?Near the beginning of the pre-production process, I made a list of films that felt like reference points. On one side, there were films by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Leos Carax, Andrezj Zulawski, Carlos Reygadas -- but then there were also films by Joe Swanberg, Noah Baumbach, Whit Stillman, and Josephine Decker. Josephine’s films Butter On The Latch and Thou Wast Mild And Lovely were both huge for me. I was also thinking about Polanski -- especially Repulsion and The Tenant. In general, I’m very interested in occupying this dissonant space between naturalism and surrealism, and I think a lot of the feel of the film is derived from collisions between different reference points. I encouraged my director of photography Gideon de Villiers to react impressionistically to the chaos and emotion-al color of the scenes. We tried to stay very open, and let the thing evolve in a way that always felt honest and unified.

How did you shoot the special-effects scenes, both with Ruth suffering from her strange symptoms and her initial ghostly encounter with Michael?My good friend and practical special-effects guru Ben Gojer, who is based in Chicago, came on-board relatively early in the process, and we had lots of long phone calls before the shoot to cognize how we would pull off the effects gags. He did makeup throughout the entire movie, created latex prosthetics and masks, and manifested a variety of uncanny liquids. We also had to meticulously pre-plan all of the effects shots, as a means to figure out how to hide effects within frames, for exam-ple. Ben is a genius and we’ve worked together a lot before, so the special-effects process felt like a series of fun challenges and puzzles for us to solve together. Meanwhile, my friend Rachel Birnbaum built Michael’s costume, along with art director Alejandro Ovalle. I had a pretty specific idea of how Michael should look, and the development process mainly consisted of iterating versions of the cos-tume in my living room and making discoveries until it felt right.

CAST

LINDSAY BURDGE Ruth

Lindsay Burdge (Ruth) is an actress and producer from Pasadena, Ca. Most recently, she appears in Karyn’s Kusama’s The Invitation, and the Hannah Fidell film 6 Years, both which premiered at SXSW 2015. She also starred in Fidell’s A Teacher, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Lindsay made her debut acting performance in First Winter, which she also produced, and can be seen in other recent films such as The Midnight Swim and Wild Canaries. On the other side of the camera she worked as a producer and casting director on festival favorites Gimme The Loot and Lily.

PETER VACKMichael

Peter Vack is an actor and filmmaker from New York City. Vack was the lead on Doug Liman’s cult series I Just Want My Pants Back for MTV and is currently on Amazon Studio’s critically acclaimed Mozart In The Jungle starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Lola Kirke and Malcolm McDowell and created by Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola, and Paul Weitz. Indiewire named Vack one of “The 21 Biggest Indie Breakout Actors of 2014.” Peter’s recent film roles include: Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe In Unicorns (SXSW 2014), Hannah Fidell’s 6 Years (SXSW 2015), Sara Violet Bliss and Charles Rodg-ers’s Fort Tilden (Winner Narrative Feature Competition SXSW 2014), and Nancy Meyer’s The Intern starring Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway.

JENNIFER KIMClaudette

Jennifer Kim attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts at the Stella Adler Studio as well as London’s Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts. Film cred-its include The Bourne Legacy, First Winter, We Need To Talk About Kev-in, Wild Canaries, Obvious Child, and Female Pervert. Television credits include recurring roles on Amazon’s Mozart In The Jungle and NBC’s The Blacklist as well as roles on Rescue Me, The Good Wife, 666 Park Ave, and Elementary. Most recently, Jen made her off-Broadway debut in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins new drama “Gloria” at the Vineyard Theatre. A Los Ange-les native, Jen lives in Brooklyn and enjoys reading, taking photographs, crocheting, indigo dying, watching films, painting, pottery, reiki, the list goes on…

KEITH POULSONKeith

Keith Poulson is a Brooklyn based actor, filmmaker and musician. His acting credits include Bob Byington’s Somebody Up There Likes Me, Alex Karpovsky’s Red Flag, Alex Ross Perry’s Listen Up Philip and Queen of Earth, Michael Bilandic’s Hellaware, Amazon TV’s Mozart In The Jungle, as well as Nathan Silver’s forthcoming Stinking Heaven and Joanna Arnow’s short film Bad At Dancing, which won the Silver Bear Prize at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival. In addition to his film work, both in front of and behind the camera, Keith served for years as a touring musician in the NYC-based bands Bishop Allen & Air Waves.

CREW

JOE SWANBERGProducer

Joe Swanberg has directed many acclaimed feature films and web shows, including Hannah Takes the Stairs, Drinking Buddies, Happy Christmas, Digging For Fire and the IFC.com series Young American Bodies. He also co-directed and acted in the breakout horror film, V/H/S, in addition to his acting work in films like You’re Next, The Sacrament, and Thou Wast Mild and Lovely. His films have premiered at Sundance, Berlin, and SXSW and regularly appear on TV and in film festivals and the-aters around the world.

ADAM KRITZERProducer

Adam Kritzer is a writer, educator, organizer and filmmaker. Upon graduating college, he was hired by his mentor, Peter Sellars, to adapt to the screen Desdemona, a stageplay by Toni Morrison. He produced, and acted as a Genital Arm in Chocolate Heart, which premiered at SXSW 2014 and then screened at festivals across the country. He wrote, directed and produced Good Funk, which is cur-rently in post-production. Lace Crater is his first feature as producer.

LAWRENCE DAIProducer

Lawrence Dai is an American independent film producer. He currently works as the writers’ produc-tion assistant at The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. He once watched the movie Julie & Julia every day for a year. Lace Crater is the first feature he’s produced.

GIDEON DE VILLIERSDirector of Photography

Gideon De Villiers is a cinematographer on the move. He recently completed production of Good Funk, directed by Adam Kritzer, and a feature documentary titled Almost Sunrise for Emmy-nominat-ed filmmakers Michael Collins and Marty Syjuco. You might often find Gideon and his camera repel-ling down the side of a mountain, time-lapsing the intricate motions of the earth, or asleep on top of a sailboat.

LUCAS GREENProduction Designer

Lucas Green is a Brooklyn-based artist and production designer from Spokane, WA. Along with sev-eral short films, including Harrison Atkins’ Chocolate Heart, he has designed two feature films; Lace Crater being his first. Outside his film career, Lucas paints, sculpts, and performs carpentry. He con-siders Lace Crater to be one of his most satisfying creative collaborations.

CREDITS

CASTRuth

MichaelClaudette

AndrewRyanKeithDean

Doctor Sal GrickyClub Guy

KatyaDrigan

Maybe Susan

Lindsay Burdge Peter Vack Jennifer KimAndrew Ryder Chase Williamson Keith Poulson Joe Swanberg William Nadylam Steve Girard Kati Skelton Drigan Lee Betsey Brown

Written, Directed, and Edited by Harrison Atkins

CREW

Produced by

Executive Producers

Co-ProducerAssociate Producers

Unit Production Manager Assistant Director

Director of PhotographyAssistant Camera, Gaffer, Post-Pro-

duction SupervisorKey Grip

Production DesignArt Direction

Costume Design

Special Effects MakeupProduction SoundCasting Assistant

Locations ManagerPost-Production Sound

Original ScoreColorist

Stills Coordinator

Lawrence DaiAdam KritzerJoe SwanbergEddie LinkerPeter GilbertChris OsbornBarry HoldenNina YankowitzAdam KritzerKati SkeltonGideon de VilliersDaniel Johnson

Stephen LoRussoLuke GreenAlejandro OvalleRachel BimbaumKati SkeltonBen GojerAllistair JohnsonBetsey BrownMark LukenbillHarrison AtkinsNathan RuyleAlan PalomoMarc RipperRussell Yaffe