“Pet Shop Days,” the directorial debut from Hollywood scion Olmo Schnabel, has been acquired by Utopia for theatrical distribution in North America.
A Venice Film Festival premiere that just lit up SXSW, the provocative coming-of-age film stars stars Jack Irv, Dario Yazbek Bernal, Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and Emmanuelle Seigner. Martin Scorsese, Jeremy O. Harris and Michel Franco (“New Order”) all serve as executive producers.
Bernal (Netflix’s “House of Flowers”) stars as Alejandro, the son of a Mexican crime lord on the run from his past in New York City. There he meets Jack (Irv), a 20-something living with his wealthy parents Francis (Dafoe) and Diana (Seigner) while working in a pet shop. In a haze of drugs and sex, Alejandro seduces Jack and drags him into the city’s criminal underbelly.
Shot on 35mm film by Hunter Zimny (“Funny Pages,” “The Scary of Sixty-First,” “What Doesn’t Float”), the film generated buzz out of Venice for its daring lead performances. At the time, Variety said Schnabel “possesses a creativity, and a sensitivity, of a filmmaker who already seems capable of occupying the spotlight on his own.” source