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Feast on “A BANQUET,” upcoming body-horror film from IFC Midnight

Thursday, December 3, 2020 | News

By MICHAEL GINGOLD

The distributor behind RELIC has another female-led chiller about extreme family trauma on the way.

IFC Midnight has announced its acquisition of North American rights to A BANQUET, the feature debut of award-winning short filmmaker Ruth Paxton, which will be released next year. Scripted by Justin Bull, it stars Sienna Guillory (the RESIDENT EVIL franchise), Jessica Alexander, Ruby Stokes and Lindsay Duncan (A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES). The synopsis: “Widowed mother Holly [Guillory] is radically tested when her teenage daughter Betsey [Alexander] experiences a profound enlightenment and insists that her body is no longer her own, but in service to a higher power. Bound to her newfound faith, Betsey refuses to eat but loses no weight. In an agonizing dilemma, torn between love and fear, Holly is forced to confront the boundaries of her own beliefs.”

“We’ve had an outstanding year breaking out new voices in the horror genre,” says IFC Films president Arianna Bocco, “and we’ve never been more primed to bring Ruth Paxton and her brilliant and provocative feature debut to audiences across the country.” Says Paxton, “I’m thrilled to be partnering with such an established champion of independent cinema in IFC Films. It is daunting to be introducing my first feature with them considering they’ve previously supported many of my cinematic heroes, from Von Trier and Audiard to McQueen, Kent and Kurzel, but I’m incredibly excited and I can’t wait to launch A BANQUET with them!”

Michael Gingold
Michael Gingold (RUE MORGUE's Head Writer) has been covering the world of horror cinema for over three decades, and in addition to his work for RUE MORGUE, he has been a longtime writer and editor for FANGORIA magazine and its website. He has also written for BIRTH.MOVIES.DEATH, SCREAM, IndieWire.com, TIME OUT, DELIRIUM, MOVIEMAKER and others. He is the author of the AD NAUSEAM books (1984 Publishing) and THE FRIGHTFEST GUIDE TO MONSTER MOVIES (FAB Press), and he has contributed documentaries, featurettes and liner notes to numerous Blu-rays, including the award-winning feature-length doc TWISTED TALE: THE UNMAKING OF "SPOOKIES" (Vinegar Syndrome).