Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma got one of the first extended standing ovations of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Screening at the 1,068-seat Debussy Theatre on Wednesday night to open the festival’s Un Certain Regard section, the psychedelic tribute to the slasher-horror cycle of the early ’80s had the audience clapping for nine minutes (yes, it was that long), some of which occurred as star Hannah Einbinder thanked the cast and crew over a three-minute stretch.
“Ok, what should we do now?” said Einbinder before launching into a generous list of thank-yous.
The campy, blood squirting comedy follows a queer filmmaker (played by Einbinder) who in making a slasher franchise sequel becomes obsessed with casting the original film’s “final girl” (Gillian Anderson). Psychological and sexual chaos ensues.
In his review, Deadline’s Damon Wise called the film, which also stars SNL‘s Sarah Sherman, an “instant midnight-movie classic.”
Mubi is handling its theatrical release.
During the introduction, Schoenbrun said: “There’s this song by Drake called ‘Started From the Bottom,’ and it goes, ‘Started from the bottom, now we’re here.’”
They added, “I guess I wanted to talk about joy. Because this was the most joyful experience of my life, making this movie.” Schoenbrun’s previous movie was the Sundance 2024 feature I Saw the TV Glow, the A24 film that earned five Independent Spirit Award nominations.
“It was the first time I directed a film where I felt free in my whole self and I was just in love in making it. I was in love with the language of cinema, I was in love with the joy of working with collaborators who care so deeply and can do amazing things that I find so beautiful that I could never imagine or do myself. And we just had it on this film,” beamed Schoenbrun.
Anderson told the crowd, “This is my first time in Cannes with a film, after a few 100 years of being in the industry, and I’m so honored to be here with this particular film.”
“I’m so proud of it, and I’m proud of what [Jane] created with all of the extraordinary team. And yeah, it’s an incredibly special moment, so thank you for inviting me to the party,” the X-Files star added.
