To the Stars Movie Storyline. In a god-fearing small town in 1960s Oklahoma, bespectacled and reclusive teen Iris endures the booze-induced antics of her mother and daily doses of bullying from her classmates. She finds solace in Maggie, the charismatic and enigmatic new girl at school, who hones in on Iris’s untapped potential and coaxes her out of her shell. When Maggie’s mysterious past can no longer be suppressed, the tiny community is thrown into a state of panic, leaving Maggie to take potentially drastic measures and inciting Iris to stand up for her friend and herself.
Martha Stephens (co-director of Land Ho!, 2014 Sundance Film Festival) directs this period piece with flair, utilizing classic black-and-white landscape cinematography to create an aesthetic feast. On one level, this is Iris’s coming-of-age tale, a story about finding power and comfort in one’s own skin. Yet Stephens also infuses the film with elements of the western genre to tell a deeper story, about women as outsiders in a time and place of repression and intolerance.
To the Stars is a 2019 American drama film directed by Martha Stephens from a screenplay by Shannon Bradley-Colleary. It stars Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Shea Whigham, Jordana Spiro, Adelaide Clemens, Lucas Jade Zumann, Malin Åkerman and Tony Hale. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019. It was released on April 24, 2020, by Samuel Goldwyn Films.
In June 2018, it was announced Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Malin Åkerman, Shea Whigham, Tony Hale, Lucas Jade Zumann, Adelaide Clemens and Jordana Spiro had joined the cast of the film, with Martha Stephens directing from a screenplay by Shannon Bradley-Colleary. Kristin Mann, Laura D. Smith, Erik Rommesmo, Carlos Cuscò, Emerson Machtus, Kerri Elder and Black Elder will serve as producers and executive producers, respectively, under their Northern Lights Films, Foton Pictures and Rockhill Media banners, respectively.
Principal photography concluded in June 2018, in Oklahoma. The film was shot simultaneously in Black and White and Color. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019. In October 2019, Samuel Goldwyn Films acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on April 24, 2020.
To the Stars (2020)
Directed by: Martha Stephens
Starring: Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Shea Whigham, Jordana Spiro, Adelaide Clemens, Madison Beaty, Malin Åkerman, Tony Hale, Jordana Spiro, Lauren Ashley Stephenson
Screenplay by: Shannon Bradley-Colleary
Production Design by: Jonathan Guggenheim
Cinematography by: Andrew Reed
Film Editing by: Nathan Whiteside
Costume Design by: Kiersten Hargroder, Jessica Zavala
Set Decoration by: Lauren Crawford
Music by: Heather McIntosh
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Release Date: January 25, 2019 (Sundance), April 24, 2020 (United States)
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