STAY AWAKE

An American indie debut drama of uncommon empathy that is very much of the moment: a fictionalized account of the filmmaker’s coming of age, as he struggles to get out from under the yoke of a prescription-drug-addicted mother in small-town Virginia. Life in the last, lame-duck months of high school, with a job at the Jolly Cow ice cream drive-in, would be cringe-inducing enough without a deeply depressed, self-destructive mother (Chrissy Metz, star of THIS IS US). Wyatt Oleff (CITY ON FIRE) and Fin Argus (QUEER AS FOLKS) play teenage brothers stuck in a cycle of discovering their mom passed out, dragging her to the hospital, and encouraging rehab. Despair quickly turns to hope and then boomerangs back again. Featuring three superb performances that find surprising humor and humanity amid the tragedy of parental addiction. A MarVista Entertainment release.

May 19 at Film Forum in NYC and
May 25 at Laemmle Royal in LA

“Gorgeously shot, honest and deeply personal.” —Virgie Tovar, Forbes

“Especially resonant given the recent representation of America’s drug crisis.” —Manori Ravindran, Variety

“Youthful wisdom is laced throughout Jamie Sisley’s feature debut.”
—Stephen Saito, The Moveable Fest

“A balancing act of addiction, compassion, difficult choices, that still manages hilarious moments and periods of joy. One of the best directorial
debuts of the year.”
—Ross Bonaime, Collider