Siblings can be a pain in the ass, but we’d undoubtedly do anything for them without a second thought — even if it means surviving an apocalypse to do so. That’s the plot of Littermates, premiering next week at Fantastic Fest, which just released its first teaser trailer.
Written and directed by Scott Tinkham and Michael Woloson, Littermates stars Joey Bader, Oliver Woolf, and Kaylee McGregor. The film’s synopsis is as follows:
Set against the backdrop of a mysterious war, LITTERMATES follows two disoriented survivors who take refuge at an isolated cottage in the English countryside. After Liam and Mel arrive bloodied, speechless, and unable to fully understand what has happened to them, they are taken in by Chester, an enigmatic caretaker who bathes, feeds, and teaches them how to speak again.
As sirens, smoke, and distant threats press closer, Liam and Mel go about their days relearning the simplest tasks inside Chester’s carefully controlled world, while earning “nifties” for good behavior that can be traded for small comforts like karaoke, hot tub time, dance parties, and favorite meals.However, unlike Liam, Mel is far less willing to accept the boundaries of the cottage, growing increasingly drawn to the woods, the locked gate, and the larger world Chester insists is too dangerous to enter. When Mel's curiosity pushes past Chester’s rules, the fragile order of the cottage is tested; exposing the fear, loyalty, and unanswered questions holding their makeshift family together.
Littermates is executive produced by Bader, Woolf, McGregor, Woloson, and Tinkham, alongside Haley Nicole Johnson, Al Baker, Jake Kuhn, and Noah Stratton-Twine.
“Having both grown up with siblings, we made Littermates to explore the strange, primal, and often trivial relationship between siblings,” said the directors in a joint statement. “At its heart, the film is an unconventional coming-of-age story set against a dystopian backdrop.
“The script took a little over eight months to complete, reverse-engineered around the tools we knew we wanted to use: a single location, three characters played by our best friends Joey, Kaylee, and Ollie, the picturesque hills of the English countryside, and a helicopter. From the beginning of the writing process, though, it was always about siblinghood. We knew that if we kept the emotional engine of the film clear, everything else could evolve naturally around it.”
Littermates premieres at Fantastic Fest on September 20.
