New Strains
More Mumblecore
•
02-Jan-2025
While a new virus simmers into a pandemic, a couple embarks on a week-long vacation in New York City. Directing duo Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan direct and star in “New Strains,” a Hi-8 feature film observing an eccentric couple’s efforts to grapple and embrace early pandemic psychosis and isolation. Kallia (Shaw) and Ram (Kamalakanthan) arrive at Kallia's uncle’s Manhattan apartment. From the jump, the two are faced with the harsh reality of the emerging virus and how it will hinder their vacation. Each day comes with a new restriction and the couple’s playful childishness leads to moments of candid closeness but also paranoid tantrum. There are jealousies over elementary crushes and sneakily orchestrated social distanced activities. It offers a comically microscopic look at domestic living — are the challenges a result of incompatibility or simply a chapter of an evolving relationship? Although the virus resembles one quite familiar with the recent events, “New Strains,” with its analog form and intermittent sequences of experimental melody, allow it to exist in its own removed petri dish. -JM. A MEMORY Presentation. A Parori Production. Written & Directed by Artemis Shaw & Prashanth Kamalakanthan. Starring Artemis Shaw & Prashanth Kamalakanthan. Producer: Artemis Shaw & Kate Stahl. Cinematographer: Prashanth Kamalakanthan. Production Sound: Artemis Shaw. Edited by Prashanth Kamalakanthan. Original Music by Will Epstein.
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