Dorie Barton’s “messed up mind-bender”
LOS ANGELES, CA (November 15, 2021) – An invitation to a mysterious theatre piece called “The Show” sends four best friends down a rabbit hole of mistrust and madness as they try to figure out who are the actors, who is the audience, who is doing this to them, and why.
Acclaimed filmmaker Dorie Barton follows up her hit indie comedy GIRL FLU (2016) with a delicious, trippy Thanksgiving tale of twisted morality and tested friendships. In this inverted escape room mystery, the only thing holding these friends together is the fractured belief that there must be some kind of logic to the absurdity.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW won “Best Feature Film” at the Big Apple Film Festival and has received many other accolades and awards over its 2021 festival tour including “Best Director” and “Best Ensemble Cast” at Big Bear Film Summit, and “Best Local Film” and “Best Local Band” at the Richmond International Film and Music Festival where it was the Opening Night Feature.
“Barton’s writing and directing really shines in Welcome to the Show,” notes Council of Zoom. And Reel News Daily wrote, “The cast is extraordinary. Welcome To The Show is the epitome of independent film in the best ways.”
Barton’s sophomore film does to its viewers what “The Show” does to its chosen audience. In an era of unrivaled uncertainty, WELCOME TO THE SHOW explores a once-familiar world made suddenly alien.
The breakdown of sense and meaning among the friends is echoed all around us. For the characters in the film, and for us, many truths are possible. In fact, it’s possible that the true meaning of “The Show” is that now it’s your turn to become “The Show.”
Writer-director-producer Dorie Barton explains, “We began the production two years ago in a time of innocence and landed in a time of disorientation and fear. For me, the film has come to represent that fall from innocence, not just for four boys becoming men on their way home from “The Show,” but for all of us having to navigate insecurity and isolation. How are we going to escape? Will life ever be the same again? Is going ‘back’ even an option?”
Producer S.C.V. Taylor of Monopol Films adds, “The world, like our film, presents us with so many questions, and so few answers. This film leaves the audience with an opportunity to consider how we make our own meaning even when we suspect there is none.”
WELCOME TO THE SHOW was shot entirely on location in Richmond, VA, and was written specifically for Barton’s acting students at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) where she teaches acting for the camera. The production began with a brisk 10-day shooting schedule in November of 2019 and was completed during the lockdown of 2020.
Indie film powerhouse Gravitas Ventures will be releasing the film on November 23, 2021 through their hybrid distribution system which includes Apple TV, Amazon, Comcast, Spectrum, Dish, Google Play, DirecTV, Vimeo and YouTube.
Pickled Bones, who created the all-original soundtrack for the film, will release their Welcome to the Show soundtrack album also on November 23rd wherever you get your music.
A trailer of the film is available for preview at https://vimeo.com/646035747
WELCOME TO THE SHOW stars Richard Follin, Dillon Douglasson, Keegan Garant, and Christopher Martin; Cinematographer – Alex Kent; Editors – Dorie Barton & Tyler Scheerschmidt; Soundtrack Composers – Andrew Bonieskie & Dillon Douglasson; Co-Executive Producer – Stamatios Tom Hiotis; Executive Producer – Eric Dexter; Produced by – Dorie Barton & S.C.V. Taylor; Written & Directed by Dorie Barton
iTunes Pre-Order
https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/welcome-to-the-show/id1589493440
Socials (Instagram)
@welcometotheshow.film @DorieB @MonopolFilms @richard_follin @dilpickles @keegan_garant @gravitasventures @jalexkent @tyler.scheerschmidt @spinn_creative @factioncolor @pickledbonesllc
About Monopol Films
Monopol Films is an independent film company focused on telling magical and fantastic stories in an innovative and compelling way. Producer S.C.V. Taylor’s latest film WELCOME TO THE SHOW, written & directed by Dorie Barton (GIRL FLU), won Best Feature at the 2021 Big Apple Film Festival.
Previous films include HOLLY STAR a quirky Christmas comedy written and directed by Michael Nickles starring Katlyn Carlson (Broadway’s Be More Chill) and executive produced by Aaron Lubin and Edward Burns; and THE WITCH FILES a teen witch thriller starring Holly Taylor (Manifest) and Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) written and directed by Kyle Rankin (Run Hide Fight). Taylor and Rankin previously collaborated on the romantic zombie comedy NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEB.
Monopol was founded in 1912 by Taylor’s great-grandfather writer-director-producer Stanner E. V. Taylor and his leading lady actress-writer Marion Leonard. The couple were pioneers of the Silent Era and made nearly 200 films, with early stars Mary Pickford, Mack Sennet, Lilian Gish and many others.
About Gravitas Ventures
Gravitas Ventures, a Red Arrow Studios company, is a leading all rights distributor of independent feature films and documentaries. Founded in 2006, Gravitas connects independent filmmakers and producers with distribution opportunities across the globe.
Working with talented directors and producers, Gravitas Ventures has distributed thousands of films into over a hundred million homes in North America – over one billion homes worldwide.
Recent releases include Armstrong, directed by David Fairhead; Above the Shadows starring Olivia Thirlby, Megan Fox and Jim Gaffigan; The River and the Wall, directed by Ben Masters; Score: A Film Music Documentary; California Typewriter; Legion of Brothers; Katie Holmes’ feature directorial debut; All We Had, Colin Hanks’ All Things Must Pass; and Being Evel from Academy Award winning director Daniel Junge and producer Johnny Knoxville.
