Atropia

Directed by Hailey Benton Gates | 103 minutes | 15+ | Victorian Premiere |

3:00pm Saturday, 16 May | Balam Balam Place - Cinema 1 | Buy Tickets | Buy Passes

Find love in the romantic desert of an Iraq war role-play—Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development), Chloe Sevigny and Tim Heidecker star in this Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner

Welcome to Atropia: an invented city constructed to exercise Western imaginations and soldiers. Mostly home to war games rendered in dazzling 4D (smells included), Atropia is just close enough to Los Angeles to double as a film set — and just far enough away that the performers who live on-site to bring the bustling faux-Iraqi streets to life are not exactly flourishing in their acting careers.

Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development) plays an aspiring actress within this military role-playing facility. The lines between simulation and reality are blurred when she develops very real feelings for a solider cast as an insurgent (Callum Turner), putting the authenticty of the performance at risk. An incisive satire from writer-director Hailey Gates, Atropia is a bizarre, liminal construction with an ensemble cast spanning Chloë Sevigny, Tim Heidecker, and Tim Blake Nelson.

SIMILAR: Tropic Thunder, The Rehearsal (Nathan Fielder), Metal Gear Solid 1

"Plenty of droll fun" - Clint Worthington, RogerEbert.com

"Completely original, surprisingly romantic, and sharply amusing directorial debut." - Ash Hoyle, Sundance Film Festival Programmer

Country: United States
Year: 2025
Language: English