Presented by Directors Guild of Canada
Kryptic
Directed by Kourtney Roy
Hosted by Director Kourtney Roy, Producers Amber Ripley and Josh Huculiak, Actor Jason Deline
Official selection
SXSW 2024
Calgary Underground Film Festival 2024
Director
Kourtney Roy
Producer
Amber Ripley
Writer
Paul Bromley
contact
Game Theory Films
“The feature debut from director Kourtney Roy... full of goopy, gorgeous visuals and interesting ideas about autonomy and self-realization”– Alejandra Martinez, AUSTIN CHRONICLE
Clad in a pink windbreaker and hiking boots, Kay Hall (Chloe Pirrie, THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, HANNA) joins a group of women on a nature hike to Krypto Peak. The area is known for cryptids and is also where renowned cryptozoologist Barbara Valentine went missing three years prior, while she searched for a mysterious creature. When Kay strays from the group and has a disturbingly viscous encounter with the beast, she forgets who she is and becomes obsessed with finding Barb Valentine, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Kay. Fleeing an intruder that night, she heads back to the forest, where she meets an array of strangers with, yes, cryptic messages as she searches for the missing scientist and the creature. The deeper Kay goes into the woods, the more she learns about Barb, and, haunted by gooey sexual interludes, the deeper she delves into her psyche, the closer she gets to the truth.
A part of XYZ Films New Visions launched during Cannes in 2023, and with a world premiere at SXSW, the surreal, colourful and primal KRYPTIC takes you on a strange journey with a woman whose emotions bubble beneath the surface of her mundane life. Director Kourtney Roy and writer Paul Bromley’s feature debut does more than follow a woman on a mysterious quest; they open a portal to self-discovery, empowerment and endless possibilities of what happened to these women. Pirrie’s stoic performance keeps audiences guessing as Kay discovers more about the monster and its hunter. You’ll find Jeff Gladstone’s role as Barb’s oddball husband Morgan darkly comedic and disturbing, a mesmerizing electronic score by Cayne McKenzie and striking cinematography by David Bird. There are many ways to describe this weird wonderland, but you’ll have to see it to witness Roy’s vision that defies genre definition. – Carolyn Mauricette
Showings
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