SXSW programmers will shine a “2020 Spotlight” on nine of the films that were supposed to premiere last year, including Violet the feature film written, directed, and produced by Justine Bateman, and edited by partner/editor Jay Friedkin of Union Editorial.
In Violet, Olivia Munn stars as a film development executive who realizes that the “guiding voice” inside her head has been lying to her about everything. Luke Bracey and Justin Theroux also star in the film.
Friedkin previously cut Bateman’s Tribeca Film Festival entry Five Minutes, starring Rob Benedict and Rae Dawn Chong. “Violet would not be what it is without Jay,” said Bateman. “There were many audio and visual components to Violet each with its own set of rules. Jay was instrumental in assembling those rules and holding us to them.
The resulting film is one that necessarily supports the avant-garde with a strong spinal structure. Jay’s strong sense of mood and story, and his clever and irreverent wit (and our mutual love of Topo Chico) are the reasons I have spent hundreds of hours with him in front of a monitor.”
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“Working with Justine is like catching a ride holding onto a tiger’s tail. She wrote Violet and directed it from the heart and I just found myself on a day to day basis trying to cultivate and protect her vision,” said Friedkin, who received an Oscar nomination (alongside Marcus D’Arcy) for his work on Babe. “Justine had a powerfully strong idea about how this film should be and it was an incredibly fun challenge helping her bring it to fruition.”
In addition to the contribution of Friedkin, whose recent spot projects include work for Kaiser Permanente and LG, Mannix Richenbacker of Union’s sister company, Hunter, provided graphics and titling for the film.
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SXSW Online 2021 will take place from March 16 through March 20. Passes are currently available to purchase here.
