Exclusive Trailer: AFTER THE REALITY, In The Grip of Grief And A Reality Show

Set to enjoy its world premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival as the Gala opening night film on April 21, After the Reality stars Matthew Morrison, Sarah Chalke, Jon Dore, Aimee Garcia, John Heard and Jane Lynch in a tale of loss, grief, and a reality show. We're proud to debut the trailer, which you can watch below.

David Anderson wrote and directed; it's his feature debut. Here's the official synopsis:

After the Reality is a film about loss and the strange world one inhabits when in grief's relentless grip. The film cuts between a Minnesota log cabin setting -- stuffed with shabby antique furniture and Kate and Scottie's memories of summers past -- and a currently airing episodes of Young Bucks, the reality show on which Scottie was just a contestant.

In contrast to the cabin's sturdiness and gravity, the reality show set is sterile, plastic, and impermanent. Artifice reigns on the show, down to the contestants who spew platitudes about love and vie for the heart of one young lady, Kelly. Adhering to reality show conventions, Young Bucks treats Scottie as a pawn -- a jester of love. And just as the brother and sister's grief cannot be diverted or contained, the artificial world of a reality show cannot be neatly boxed in without consequences.

To be frank, I stopped watching reality shows on television years ago, so I'm not the best judge of whether the trailer (or the movie) represents the genre in an accurate manner. Yet what comes across in the trailer's brief running time is a sense of modesty, as well as a serious attitude about the themes the movie aims to explore.

Whether it succeeds is another matter, and we'll have to wait a bit to find out. A theatrical release for After the Reality is planned for this fall. Check out the trailer and let us know your thoughts in the comments section.