CROOKEDFINGER
After the sudden deaths of her aging parents, Maria Gallucci returns to her childhood home on Cape Cod (Massachusetts). When Maria’s estranged brother Nico (and his older girlfriend Sigrid) show up to help sort out the estate, tensions soon rise about how to best sell the decrepit house. While Maria and Sigrid forge an unexpected friendship, Nico’s emotional volatility becomes increasingly unstable. Is it the effects of an old brain injury, the toll of revisiting past family traumas, or something related to the strange vibrating hum that only Maria seems to hear?
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Julia HalperinDirectorNOW, FORAGER; BARRACUDA
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Jason CortlundDirectorNOW, FORAGER; BARRACUDA
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Jason CortlundWriterNOW, FORAGER; BARRACUDA
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Julia HalperinProducerNOW, FORAGER; BARRACUDA
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Todd RemisProducerSTRAWBERRY MANSION; JEZEBEL; UNDER THE SILVER LAKE; TO DUST; WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY; THIRST STREET; KEEP THE CHANGE; SYLVIO; PORTO; ALWAYS SHINE; MAGIC MAGIC
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Paula Jon DeRoseKey Cast"Maria"SUCCESSION; LAW & ORDER; CITY ON A HILL; THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA
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Welker WhiteKey Cast"Sigrid"KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON; THE IRISHMAN; GOODFELLAS
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Blake DeLongKey Cast"Nico"WHEN THEY SEE US; TESLA; SISTER AIMEE; THE BLACKLIST
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Project Type:Feature
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Genres:Suspense, Mystery, Thriller, psychological, supernatural, Drama
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Runtime:1 hour 32 minutes
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Completion Date:November 1, 2023
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:ARRI Alexa 3.2K & 16mm
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Aspect Ratio:1.85
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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American Film FestivalWroclaw
Poland
November 9, 2023
World Premiere -
IFF BostonBoston, MA
United States
May 4, 2024
North American Premiere -
Ridgefield IFFRidgefield, CT
United States
May 18, 2024
Best Psychological Suspense Award -
Brooklyn Film FestivalNew York, NY
United States
June 3, 2024 -
Gulf of Naples IFFNaples
Italy
June 11, 2024 -
Nevada Women's Film FestivalLas Vegas, NV
United States
June 20, 2024 -
Woods Hole Film FestivalWoods Hole, MA
United States
July 30, 2024 -
Mystic Film FestivalMystic, CT
United States
September 19, 2024
Best Ensemble Cast Award -
Montevideo Fantastico Film FestivalMontevideo
Uruguay
South American Premiere
Best Actress Award -
Monadnock International Film FestivalKeene, NH
United States
October 4, 2024 -
Bread & Roses Film FestivalAsbury Park, NJ
United States
October 19, 2024
Best of the Fest Award -
Alexandria Film FestivalAlexandria, VA
United States
November 9, 2024 -
Weyauwega IFFWeyauwega, WI
United States
November 15, 2024
Robert Bloch Award for Best Suspense/Thriller/Horror
Julia Halperin and Jason Cortlund have co-directed shorts, installations, and narrative feature films. Their debut feature NOW, FORAGER (2012) premiered at IFF Rotterdam and New Directors/New Films. It was nominated for a Gotham Award for Breakthrough Director. Their follow-up, BARRACUDA (2017) starring Allison Tolman and JoBeth Williams, premiered in the narrative competition at SXSW and in the Critics Week competition at Cairo IFF. It was distributed in the US by Samuel Goldwyn Films/Orion Pictures, and sold across multiple international territories.
The feeling of being alone in one’s own family is a specific kind of terror. CROOKEDFINGER uses elements of slow-burn suspense to explore this underlying feeling of dread, one that generates from a liminal space between the psychological and the supernatural.
Like all the problems with an aging house, there are some things you just can’t fix. CROOKEDFINGER is about breaking attachments to the old stories that haunt us—and finding the strength to start over again from zero.
We developed the script for actors we knew—Paula Jon DeRose and Welker White—around the seasonal landscapes of off-season Cape Cod. We made the film with a small crew in an isolated location, including key collaborators from our previous two features—most notably cinematographer Jonathan Nastasi and composer Chris Brokaw.