Focus Features strikes again.

The indie film company continued a torrid acquisitions streak, nabbing rights to Paul Schrader’s revenge thriller “The Card Counter,” one of the hottest titles available at this year’s Cannes Film Festival virtual market. “The Card Counter” is Schrader’s follow-up to his Oscar-nominated “First Reformed.” The cast includes Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan and Willem Dafoe.

It’s the latest splashy buy for Focus, which also recently nabbed James Gray’s “Armageddon Time” and Justin Chon’s “Blue Bayou” out of this new, coronavirus-mandated virtual Cannes.

“The folks at Focus are the best at what they do,” Schrader said in a statement. “Over the years I’ve been jealous of directors in the Focus fold. Now happily I am one.”

“The Card Counter” focuses on Tell (Isaac), a gambler, whose spartan lifestyle moving from one casino to the next is shattered when he is approached by Cirk (Sheridan), a vulnerable and angry young man seeking help to exact revenge on a military colonel (Dafoe). For Tell, helping Cirk may be a chance at redemption (a core theme in many of Schrader’s works), but the decision has unforeseen consequences.

Schrader, whose writing credits also include such iconic features as “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull,” wrote and directed “The Card Counter.” Martin Scorsese, who directed “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull,” as well as the Schrader-scripted “The Last Temptation of Christ” and “Bringing Out the Dead,” will executive produce the film.

Focus Features will distribute the film in the U.S. and Universal Pictures International will distribute internationally in the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, ANZ, China, SE Asia (excluding Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and television), Japan, South Korea, Latin America and on various airlines.

Braxton Pope, Lauren Mann, and David Wulf produced the film. Other executive producers include William Olsson, Lee Broda, Catherine Boily, Joel Michaely, Ruben Islas, Stanley Preschutti, Kathryn Moseley, Tiffany Boyle and Elsa Ramo.

“At a time when many of us are left wondering whether it’s our circumstances that corrupt souls or if it’s corrupt souls that create the circumstances, no one can say for sure, but has anyone explored this more in film than Paul Schrader?” said Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski in a statement. “All of us at Focus can’t wait to hear and see what Paul has to say now more than ever before, and we’re very proud to help him bring this story to the world.”

HanWay films represented the international sale of the film. Schrader’s rep, David Gonzales, and Endeavor Content handled the U.S. sale

Isaac is represented by WME and Inspire Entertainment, Haddish by Artists First and UTA, Sheridan by Mosaic and WME, and Dafoe by CAA and Circle of Confusion. Schrader is represented by David Gonzales. Both Sheridan and Isaac are also represented by attorney Mitch Smelkinson. The production is represented by attorney Joseph Lanius.

EXCLUSIVE: Breaking Through The Lens (BTTL), the initiative set up to promote female and non-binary filmmaking voices, has selected the 10 projects that will take part in its 2020 edition during this week’s Cannes virtual market.

For the event’s third edition it will partner with producer Kathryn M. Moseley’s One Two Twenty Entertainment, which has recent credits including Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter and Body Brokers with Michael Kenneth Wiliiams.

Run by Daphne Schmon, Emily Carlton and Elpida Stathatou, BTTL would have taken part during the physical Cannes festival in May but had to pivot to online as per the rest of the market and fest.

The 10 projects hail from seven countries and include Tokyo Talents fellow Janus Victoria’s debut feature Kodokushi, and queer ensemble buddy comedy Let’s Do This from non-binary Canadian Screen Award-nominated director Lora Campbell.

Each project will benefit from development investment from One Two Twenty Entertainment, with the plan being to guide them through to production, sales and distribution. During Cannes the filmmakers will take part in the first stage of a year-long program to pitch their project to investors, sales and entertainment companies.

“We are excited to partner with One Two Twenty Entertainment and participate in the virtual Marche du Film,” said Daphne Schmon founder of BTTL. “This new way of connecting creates tremendous opportunities that will enable BTTL to expand our reach beyond the physical Pavilion and gives us innovative tools to support our filmmakers and their outstanding projects during these uncertain times.”

“I believe that storytelling can change the world. It is the oldest and most powerful way to communicate,” added One Two Twenty Entertainment’s CEO Moseley. “I founded One Two Twenty Entertainment three years ago to develop and produce diverse projects that serve as a springboard for emerging talent in the film industry. I am thrilled to partner with Breaking Through The Lens in their mission to empower female and non-binary filmmakers as they use their voices to create the next generation of stories for us all to enjoy.”

The 10 projects are:

ALEGRÍA | Drama | Spain | Dir: Violeta Salama | Prod: Clara Nieto
A journey through culture, religion and contradictions in a land where being a Jew or a Muslim makes a huge difference and even more being a woman.

BIRTH / REBIRTH | Horror | USA | Dir: Laura Moss | Prod: Mali Elfman
A psychological horror film about motherhood and creation, inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This film centers on a single mother and a childless morgue technician who are bound together by their relationship to a re-animated little girl.

CHICKENSHIT | Drama | USA | Dir: Jessica dela Merced | Prod: Mickey Valles-Schiff
With the help of a scrappy group of boys, 11-year-old Phoenix sets out on a dangerous mission to save her Detroit neighborhood from arsonists and prove herself to her father.

JENNIFER, 42 | Animated True-crime Doc | USA | Dir: Elle Kamihira | Prod: Katie Hyde
The dramatic story of Jennifer Magnano, a Connecticut mother of three, and her family’s battle to escape dad Scott’s brutal violence and coercive control. Voiced by Jennifer’s three children, a series of shocking acts turn Jennifer’s struggle into a life-and-death game that she cannot win.

KODOKUSHI | Drama | Philippines, Japan, Malaysia | Dir: Janus Victoria | Prod: Lorna Tee
A middle-aged Japanese salaryman risks everything and moves to the Philippines to escape the fate of kodokushi—the lonely death.

LET’S DO THIS | Comedy | Canada | Dir: Lora Campbell | Prod: Emily Andrews
A queer ensemble buddy comedy where four best friends with student debt looming over their heads attempt the heist of a breakfast television show giveaway despite their total lack of criminal know-how and skill.

LILLY | Bio Pic Drama | USA | Dir: Rachel Feldman | Prod: J Todd Harris
Based on the life of Fair Pay activist Lilly Ledbetter, LILLY is a political drama about a poor tire factory worker, cheated of a fair wage solely because of her sex, who finds the power within herself, risking all that she has to fight for justice against powerful, entrenched corporate and governmental systems.

MAMA BEARS | Documentary | USA | Dir: Daresha Kyi | Prod: Laura Tatham
The lives of conservative, Christian mothers are utterly transformed when they decide to accept their LGBTQ children. Spread throughout the country but connected through private Facebook groups, they call themselves “mama bears” because they fight ferociously for the civil rights of their children and the entire LGBTQ community.

MOUTH | Drama | USA | Dir: Kimi Lee | Prod: Isabel Marden and Kim Bailey
Broke Fem-Studies major, Raina, voluntarily opts to be a girlfriend for hire to Tom, a man twice her age. Oscillating between two interwoven timelines–one in the past, the other in the present–Raina attempts to make sense of her ambivalence towards security and love.

SKIN OF YOUTH | Vietnam | Dir: Ash Mayfair | Prod: Ngoc Tran
San and Nam court the criminal underworld of 90s Saigon to find enough money for San’s gender reassignment surgery. The young lovers are unaware that the price they have to pay will test their love and limit of their humanity.

I grew up in the era of Elvira. A campy, colorful, fun approach to horror. I’ve always had a soft spot for that aesthetic and its probably why I continue to host B-Movie horror film nights at my house on the reg. If that’s something you like as well, VAMPIRE DAD has it in spades.

Written by Kathryn M. Moseley and Frankie Ingrassia with Ingrassia directing, this debuting filmmaking team combined a ton of elements and aesthetics that are proven to work together. Opening credits and transitions that pay homage to the EC Comics of the 1950s, beautiful and vibrant set design and costuming, situational comedy, and sexy vampire women. It’s all so familiar. If you love early Tim Burton Films like Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and Edward Scissorhands, this is in your wheelhouse. What makes this film work is its unique story which allows for it to feel fresh and different from other films that use those elements.

Raymond (Jackson Hurst) is visited on Halloween night and bitten by Victoria, the goddess of the Underworld (Sarah Palmer) and he is turned into a vampire. His wife Natasha (Emily O’Brien) and his dopey brother-in-law Bob (Barak Hardley) help him conceal his new identity as a creature of the night from his teenage daughter Susie (Grace Fulton) and the rest of the neighborhood. Raymond was bitten by Victoria because the creatures of the night needed a psychologist and that happens to be Raymond’s day job in his home office. Now he is visited by werewolves, zombies, and fellow vampires because even monsters have their personal problems.

The rest of the film plays out as it becomes increasingly difficult for Raymond to hide what he has become and suspicious activities continue to occur in the neighborhood. All of this is surrounded with clever dialogue that made me laugh out loud quite a few times and low budget comedy horror that just understands what it is and is completely alright with it. At one point in the film, a fellow vampire flies into the home as a bat and several family members try to grab an obvious looking rubber bat in slow motion while epic classical music plays. VAMPIRE DAD doesn’t shy away from what it is and that allows the film to draw me in without me poking holes in its production. You can’t critique a film that is clearly critiquing itself.

The performances in this film are quite good as well. I particularly bought into anything Sarah Palmer’s Victoria said and she ate up every scene she was in. Barak Hardley’s Bob started off as a Zack Galifinakas-like caricature but morphed into a lovable and goofy Uncle character with some of the best lines in the film.

VAMPIRE DAD isn’t a masterclass is arthouse cinema or some special effects-driven blockbuster. It’s happy to be a small film with a cast list of less than a dozen people who are looking to shine a comedic light on the world of horror and pay homage to some of the best elements of those campy Elvira late-night moments and they do it in such a way that they left me wanting more when it was over.

VAMPIRE DAD is now out on VOD.

How many times have we sat down with family members of an older generation to keep them company? Especially when we have a grandparent that is alone after the passing of their spouse, we make sure they have what they need and to be there in case of any emergencies. I, in fact, did just that with my own grandmother as her health began to fade; and as her increasing maladies took their toll, the people in her life made her slow passing more comfortable, even if she wasn’t always cognizant of her surroundings. Nathaniel Katzman has crafted a similar scenario in Start with Half, where an ailing traditionalist widower and his queer grandchild are spending an evening together, but has injected the situation with dry generational comedy by way of a marijuana muffin.

“After the pair split a pot muffin…the two abide each other’s company waiting for it to kick in.”

Robert (George Wyner) is old, largely alone, and suffering Parkinson’s Disease, making most actions a considerable chore. Bec (Petey J. Gibson) is a modern young adult, hip to the ways of technology, social justice, and weed. After the pair split a pot muffin to see if it will have a positive impact on Robert’s disease and general disposition, the two abide each other’s company waiting for it to kick in. What ensues is a subtle hilarity between dramatically different dispositions, and how weathered, stubborn people can still surprise even those closest to them.