Jane Schoenbrun‘s “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is the rare film that can capture the respect and attention of the most discerning festival audiences while also being an anticipated summer release. The film, which stars Hannah Einbinder as a filmmaker tasked with revamping a tired summer camp horror franchise with its cryptic lead played by Gillian Anderson in tow, is set to make its way to theaters this August. But lucky cinephiles in select cities won’t have to wait that long.
IndieWire can exclusively announce that the film will embark on a “Camp Is in Session” tour throughout June and July, screening at film festivals and special venues that fit its summer camp theme. Notable stops include NewFest, the Provincetown Film Festival, and Fantasia.
An official synopsis for the film reads: “After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original movie’s star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium.”
After its Cannes premiere, critics praised “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” for its expansion of the themes of gender dysphoria and transition that Schoenbrun explored in her first two features, “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” and “I Saw the TV Glow.”
“With Schoenbrun’s slippery latest film, the sapphic slice of cinema ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,’ comes a statement about what happens after gender dysphoria’s annihilation — a reflection on the sexual unease experienced once you’ve finally fit into your body but perhaps don’t know what to do with it,” IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio wrote in his Cannes review. “The ways in which we’ve gotten so far in our own heads that sex is now more concept than carnal, surrendering act sets the stage for an erotic explosion in this cerebral, pop-colored tale.”
A MUBI release, “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” hits theaters on Friday, August 7. See the full list of festivals and special screenings, an IndieWire exclusive, below.
Monday June 1
NewFest Pride New York, NY
Thursday June 11
Provincetown Film Festival Provincetown, MA
Saturday, June 27
Frameline50, the 50th San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival San Francisco, CA
Friday, July 17
Fantasia Fest Montreal, QC, Canada
Saturday, July 18
Coolidge Corner Theatre at Camp Rocky Woods Medfield, MA
Saturday, July 25
Pam Cut Tomorrow Theater Portland, OR
