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One of the many movies to debut this year at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival was the thriller Summer of ’84. Directed by Turbo Kid helmers François Simard, Anouk Whissell, & Yoann-Karl Whissell the movie follows teenagers Davey (Graham Verchere), Eats (Judah Lewis), Woody (Caleb Emery), and Farraday (Cory Gruter-Andrew) in the suburb of Ipswich, Oregon in 1984 as they investigate their neighbor Wayne Mackey (Rich Sommer), who Davey suspects is a notorious serial killer.

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Image via Gunpowder & Sky

Before the film world premiered I landed an exclusive video interview with directors RKSS, Tiera Skovbye, Graham Verchere, Cory Gruter-Andrew and Caleb Emery at the Collider Studio at Sundance. They revealed how the project came together, how the popularity of Stranger Things helped get financing for the project, what the dynamic is like on set when there’s a trio of directors, what attracted the cast to the project, and more. In addition, they all played “Get To Know Your Sundance Attendee” which includes questions like what’s the last great movie they show, the last TV show they binged, what they collect, and a ton of other fun questions.

Check out what they had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about followed by the synopsis.

kia supper suite

Finally, a huge thank you to everyone at Kia and The Future Party for helping to make these interviews happen at the Kia Supper Suite and offering up transportation in the all new Kia Stinger high performance Sportback for our guests. We’d also like to thank Altec Lansing, Kunde Wines, Blue Moon Brewing, and Topo Chico for their support.

Directors RKSS, Tiera Skovbye, Graham Verchere, Cory Gruter-Andrew and Caleb Emery:

  • How they would describe the movie to people who have never heard of it.
  • How the project came together?
  • How the popularity of Stranger Things helped get financing for the project.
  • What about the script attracted them to the project.
  • What the dynamic is like on set when there’s a trio of directors.
  • The directors on working with the cast.
  • If they asked the cast to watch any movies to prepare them for the 80s setting.
  • They play “Get to Know Your Sundance Attendee”.

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Here’s the synopsis via Sundance:

“Every serial killer is somebody’s neighbor. For 15-year-old Davey, the thought of having a serial killer in his suburban town is a scary yet exciting prospect at the start of a lazy summer. In hormonal overdrive, Davey and his friends dream of sexual conquests until the news reports of the Cape May killer. Davey convinces his friends that they must investigate, and they uncover that his next-door neighbor, an unassuming, single police officer, could be the prime suspect. Could Davey possibly be right, or is it his overactive imagination?

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Writing and directing trio François Simar, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell (Turbo Kid, 2015 Sundance Film Festival) return to Midnight with this eerily resonant coming-of-age horror flick. The throwback synth score injects the tone with fun, thrills, and an escalating danger that ultimately tracks Davey’s loss of innocence. Indeed, the ’80s setting is less about the nostalgia hard-on than an essential parallel of that Reagan-era American fear that we are not as safe as we think.”

summer-of-84-movie-image
Image via Gunpowder & Sky
summer-of-84-nikki
Image via Gunpowder & Sky
summer-of-84-movie
Image via Gunpowder & Sky
summer-of-84
Image via Gunpowder & Sky