Actress Hailey Benton Gates makes her feature debut as writer/director with Atropia. The satirical film is set in a fake nation created by the US military for the purpose of realistic training scenarios. Alia Shawkat plays an aspiring actress who takes a role-playing job in Atropia, where she falls for a soldier (Callum Turner).
Zahra Alzubaidi, Tony Shawkat, Jane Levy, Tim Heidecker, Lola Kirke and Chloe Sevigny also star.
Atropia is in US cinemas from December 12th. A UK/ROI release has yet to be announced.
Check out the trailer below.
The official synopsis reads:
Welcome to Atropia: a fake nation created by the U.S. military to train soldiers before their deployment. These simulated towns—built by Hollywood set designers—are brought to life by role players hired to create a sense of “authenticity.”When an aspiring actress (Alia Shawkat) in a military role-playing facility falls in love with a soldier (Callum Turner) cast as an insurgent, their unsimulated emotions threaten to derail the performance. What unfolds is an audaciously funny satire that asks: In the performance of war, who are the winners and who are the losers?