Briarcliff’s SXSW Audience Award Winner ‘My Dead Friend Zoe’ Pushes Release To 2025
Briarcliff Entertainment announced on Wednesday that its dark veteran dramedy My Dead Friend Zoe, starring Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales and Ed Harris, will now open in theaters nationwide on February 28, 2025.
Exec produced by Travis Kelce, the film, which won the Audience Award in its SXSW world premiere, had previously been scheduled to open on November 1.
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Marking the directorial debut of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, a former U.S. Army infantry paratrooper and Iraq War Bronze Star veteran, My Dead Friend Zoe follows the journey of Merit (Martin-Green), a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran who is at odds with her family thanks to the presence of Zoe (Morales), her dead best friend from the Army. Despite the persistence of her VA group counselor (Morgan Freeman), the tough love of her mother (Gloria Reuben) and the levity of an unexpected love interest, Merit’s cozy-dysfunctional friendship with Zoe keeps the duo insulated from the world. That is, until Merit’s estranged grandfather (Harris) — holed up at the family’s ancestral lake house — begins to lose his way and needs the one thing he refuses… help. At its core, this is a buddy film about a complicated friendship, a divided family, and the complex ways in which we process grief.
In her review of the film, which is currently rated 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, Deadline’s Valerie Complex observed that it “weaves a complex tapestry from trauma, memory and the enduring strength of human connection.”
Complex called the pic “a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the imperative to provide better support for our veterans…a film that challenges its audience to reflect on the collective responsibility to ensure their well-being long after their service has ended.”
Written by Hausmann-Stokes and A.J. Bermudez, the project is the former’s creative take on the post-war experience and a tribute to veterans of all generations. Pic is produced by Paul Scanlan, Hausmann-Stokes, Terri Lubaroff, Ray Maiello, Mike Field, Richard Silverman and Robert Paschall Jr. Exec producers included Kelce, Harris, Martin-Green, Morales, Jeff Annison, David Baxter, Brandi Plants, Nancy Masterson, Joe Masterson and Igor Tsukerman.
Up next for release by Tom Ortenberg’s Briarcliff is the hot-button Trump biopic The Apprentice, which opens on October 11.
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