Albert Birney makes films on his own terms.
His live-action features “The Beast Pageant,” “Sylvio,” “Strawberry Mansion,” and now “OBEX,” in limited theaters Jan. 9, are so surreal and inventive they feel like they’re from a bygone era.
All were made far away from Hollywood. Birney initially lived in Rochester, New York, before settling in Baltimore, where he shot “OBEX.”
The sci-fi film stars Birney as Conor Marsh, who lives a life of seclusion in 1987 alongside his dog, Sandy. When he buys the state-of-the-art video game “OBEX,” Sandy is suddenly sucked into the computer. To get him back, Conor must venture into the game’s strange inner world, and the line between real-life and fantasy begins to blur.
For Birney, “OBEX” was about holding onto the joy that drew him to filmmaking in the first place. “You always hear about filmmakers who find success and their careers grow. But when they make bigger films, they often talk about their first film being the most fun and they’re trying to get back to that pure excitement,” he says “That’s what I’m chasing. I just want to have a good time.”
Birney talks us through his approach to making feature films, why it’s better to be creative than stuck waiting, his love for regional film festivals, and his hope that a new kind of theatrical experience is on the horizon.
Put your interests together.
The first kernel of “OBEX” dates back to 2020. Birney had been working on a video game adaptation of his 2019 animated film “Tux and Fanny” with game designer Gabriel Koenig, when he began wondering, “Wouldn’t it be cool to make another video game that’s also a movie, too?” Unable to imagine what that would look like, Birney decided to make a movie about a video game instead.
The story began to take shape the following year as Birney’s life in Baltimore started to make its way into the film: He got a dog, bought two old Macintosh computers from a junk shop, and that summer, trillions of cicadas descended on the city.
Birney had heard numerous stories of filmmakers losing years waiting for financing, only to then have to change their script and dilute their vision. Rather than wait, Birney grabbed his camera and filmed cicadas crawling through his backyard garbage can, even though he had no idea how he’d use the footage.
“I’m a big believer in using what you have available, whether it’s a location or a prop, and building things around that,” says Birney. “I just knew there were so many cicadas around and I’d better document them in case I needed to use them for something.”
A year later, Birney called up his friend Pete Ohs, a fellow filmmaker who wrote and co-directed 2017’s “Everything Beautiful Is Far Away.” Birney invited him to Baltimore to help develop the film. “It was just the two of us. He’d be doing camera and sound. I was acting and directing. Plus, there was my dog, Dorothy…. We edited that, then another year later we knew we needed some more actors, costumes, and props. Even then, we only had one other person as a crew member for the second half of the film.”
Build where you are.
Despite working as a filmmaker for over 20 years, Birney says he has never considered moving to either New York City or Los Angeles. “Early on I realized I didn’t need to live in those places.” After studying at Syracuse University, Birney chose to live in Rochester and make his debut film, “The Beast Pageant,” in upstate New York over the course of a few years. “I could live comfortably there.”
After moving to Baltimore, he then launched a Kickstarter for his full-length project “Sylvio,” which raised $52,138. “That was around 10 years ago. It was enough to make a feature film, and I haven’t really looked back.” Even Ohs, who was once based in L.A., lived as a bit of a nomad, as Birney says, before settling in Oklahoma for the time being.
Embrace regional film festivals.
Birney has traveled to many festivals with his films. “Sylvio” debuted at South by Southwest in 2017, while both “Strawberry Mansion” (2021) and “OBEX” (2025) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
“Sundance is the thing you dream about when you’re a kid just thinking about making movies,” he says. While he’s grateful for those experiences, the scale of those events can feel disorienting. “When they’re over, you’re almost like: What happened? I don’t know if I had a good time,” he says.
Some of the most meaningful moments with “OBEX” on the festival circuit have been at more regional gatherings. “They’re always so excited to play your work. It makes your visit feel a bit nicer. Those are the ones I’ve cherished over the last year.”
As the cinematic landscape continues to change, Birney has been looking at different ways to find his audience. Not only has he been making his own Blu-rays, which he packages and mails himself, he also books his own screenings. He points to the success of Mike Cheslik’s “Hundreds of Beavers”—which premiered at Fantastic Fest in September 2022, and continues to sell out theatrical screenings across the country—as proof that “people are craving something different.” He adds, “I know that’s what I’m craving. I want an authentic movie experience that feels removed from the stuff that studios put out.”
