Honeycomb, a coming-of-age horror film that marks the feature debut of 21-year-old director Avalon Fast, will be having it’s world premiere at the virtual Slamdance Film Festival on January 27th, and in anticipation of this screening a teaser trailer for the film has been released online. You can check it out in the embed above.
Said to be inspired by “the fear of the future, the uncertainty of growing up, sun-soaked summer, and the unique experience of being a teenage girl”, Fast shot Honeycomb in the summer of 2019 on Cortes Island, British Columbia with a cast and crew of her peers and friends. The cast includes Rowan Wales, Sophie Bawks-Smith, Jillian Frank, Destini Stewart, and Mari Geraghty.
Written by Fast and Emmett Roiko, Honeycomb is described as “a beautiful and raw love letter to youth” and has the following synopsis:
Five small-town girls abandon their mundane lives and move into an abandoned cabin. Growing increasingly isolated, their world becomes filled with imagined rituals and rules but the events of one summer night threaten to abruptly end their age of innocence forever.
Slamdance‘s K.J. Relth-Miller had this to say about the film:
From its first moments, it’s evident that there is something special about Honeycomb. Throughout its strange, unfolding tale, Avalon Fast’s feature debut continuously surprises with her bold and intriguing choices, especially when it comes to her dialogue. With nods toward Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Ann M. Martin’s The Babysitter’s Club, Honeycomb’s classic references mesh beautifully with its fresh, updated take on female friendship and the ominous end of innocence. A lo-fi achievement that perfectly encapsulates the Slamdance spirit.”
“Lo-fi” seems to be a fitting description, as it’s clear that Fast didn’t have much of a budget to work with on this one. Some viewers may be put off by the picture quality, but Honeycomb seems interesting enough that others will have no problem looking past the budgetary limitations.
If you’d like to access this year’s Slamdance films, you can get a pass at THIS LINK.
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