THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT: Sci-Fi Thriller Releases First-Look Clip Ahead of World Premiere at SXSW

In order to escape police after a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low in a farmhouse that hides them away in a different time. There they reckon with a mysterious force that pushes their familial bonds to unnatural breaking points.

Ahead of the film’s upcoming world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival, a first-look clip has been released for Michael Felker’s twisting science fiction thriller THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT. Premiering as part of the festival’s esteemed Midnight section on Monday, March 11, the exciting discovery title marks Felker’s feature directorial debut and boasts genre filmmaking icons and celebrated Marvel directors Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson (Something in the Dirt, Disney+’s Loki) as Executive Producers championing the new voice and vision. Written and directed by Felker, who has been Moorhead and Benson’s editor across nearly all of their feature films, THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT stars Adam David Thompson (Netflix's Vampires vs. the Bronx, FX’s A Teacher) and Riley Dandy (Christmas Bloody Christmas). Chloe Skoczen (Undergrads), Justin Benson (Something in the Dirt), and Sarah Bolger (Once Upon a Time, Emelie) complete the cast.

 

THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT is a tragic puzzle of a feature that follows estranged brother and sister Joseph (Thompson) and Sidney (Dandy) on the run from the law and laying low in a mysterious farmhouse that inexplicably transports them through time, hiding the duo from consequences and punishment. While trying to return to their present a cryptic force emerges, trapping them on the strange plot of land and giving them a deadly ultimatum in order to escape. What results from their entrapment not only bends the forces of spacetime, forcing the two to question everything they know about their own reality, but bends Joe and Sid's familial bonds beyond the point of trust and forgiveness.

 

A bold, stylish, and uncompromising debut for Felker, THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT is an intimately-shot and grippingly paced sci-fi about time loops, metaphysics, and alternate realities —elevated with dark doses of horror and chilling suspense— experienced through the fracturing relationship between two ill-fated siblings. 

 

The film is produced by Shane Spiegel, Jacob Rosenthal, and Felker, acting under the banner of his production company, Last Life. Moorhead, Benson, and David Lawson Jr executive produced for Rustic Films. Felker edited with Rebeca Marques, Carissa Dorson lensed, and Jimmy LaValle aka The Album Leaf (The Endless) composed with Michael A. Muller.

 

“Felker has been an irreplaceable member of the Rustic Films family since before we were even a company," EP David Lawson Jr remarked. "He has been with us since day one when we filmed Resolution as our Production Assistant straight out of film school. When he came to us with this project, there was never a question of whether or not we would do everything in our power to help him make this the best film it could be. Rustic Films isn't what it is today without Felker's contributions over the years."

 

XYZ Films is handling North American sales.