Shudder acquires Izabel Pakzad's Find Your Friends, starring Bella Thorne, Chloe Cherry, and Helena Howard

Find Your Friends- Courtesy of Shudder

Shudder announced today that they've acquired writer/director Izabel Pakzad's feature debut Find Your Friends, which will stream on the network beginning June 12. The movie stars Bella Thorne (Divinity), Chloe Cherry (Euphoria), Helena Howard (Madeline's Madeline), Sophia Ali (Uncharted), and Zion Moreno (Gossip Girl). The film had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival last summer as one of the festival's headliners. It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and Fantastic Fest. The deal includes rights in North America, UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Australia, and New Zealand.

The film follows Amber (Howard) and her four best friends, who flee Los Angeles for a girls' trip to the Joshua Tree. Once there, they find themselves unwelcome in a hostile desert town. As encounters with the locals grow more aggressive and threatening, resentments within the friend group start to surface. What should have been a fun escape spirals into a violent struggle for survival as past wounds and presents dangers collide into a nightmare.

Pakzad is an Iranian-Greek filmmaker, writer, and director. Her short film, Don't Worry, It's Gonna Be Okay (2022), which she directed, wrote, and starred in, was an official selection at the Oscar-qualifying Radiance Film Festival and Hollyshorts. It also won Best Short Film at the L.A. Film Festival. Previously, she worked and starred in the indie feature, Thena, opposite Chris Bauer, Virginia Gardner (Fall), Brian Marc (White Girl), Will Peltz (Euphoria), Dakotas Lotus (Cami ad Coop), and Malia Baker (The Baby-Sitters Club). Thena premiered at the Taormina Film Festival last June.

In a press release, Pakzad said, "Shudder champions work that refuses to play by the rules and challenges everything we think young women should be in genre films. My hope was to make a film that audiences find to be raw, unapologetic and bold and I am so grateful to be partners with them, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect home for FIND YOUR FRIENDS."

In that same press release, Emily Gotto, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Productions at Shudder said, "We're thrilled to share FIND YOUR FRIENDS, a visceral film that begins as an escape into the stark beauty of the desert and quickly descends into a gripping struggle where paranoia, resentment, and survival collide." Gotto continued, "Audiences should prepare for an intense, emotionally charged experience that rethinks the trope of the final girl."

Check out Find Your Friends when it hits Shudder on June 12.

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