02 feb 2023 REALITY BY TINA SATTER IN BERLINALE PANORAMA

mk2 films boards high-concept Sydney Sweeney starrer REALITY by director Tina Satter in Berlin Panorama

Emmy award-nominee Sydney Sweeney (EUPHORIA, THE WHITE LOTUS) stars as Reality Winner, an ordinary citizen hero and whistle-blower in playwright Tina Satter’s blisteringly tense and high concept debut feature. Satter is one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film 2022.

On a Saturday afternoon, in June 2017, 25-year-old Reality Winner, is confronted at her Georgia home by the FBI. A cryptic conversation begins, and Reality’s life quickly begins to unravel.

Satter’s dialogue, taken directly from the FBI’s transcript of the interrogation, alternates between nail-biting and banal, darkly funny and surreal. REALITY tracks one woman’s experience of the State at work. As more details of Reality’s life are revealed and more armed men arrive, a complex portrait emerges of an American millennial, yoga teacher, and veteran under siege.

The film is based on the true story of former American intelligence specialist Reality Winner, who was sentenced by the Trump administration to 5 years in prison for the unauthorized release to the media of a government intelligence report on Russian interference in the 2016 US election, the longest prison sentence ever imposed for this charge. She was released in 2021.

“From the moment I saw Reality’s name typed onto the first page of the transcript and her first “Hey…” as she begins the life-changing conversation with the armed men standing on her lawn, I could hear Reality’s voice and heartbeat. I had a deep internal jolt that sharing this document as a script from the first word to the last word was vital.” Tina Satter

“Sydney Sweeney delivers a tour-de-force performance in this very layered and potent debut from Tina Satter. We are so excited to screen the film to buyers in Berlin, with its timely themes and distinctive approach to the story of a girl citizen hero under siege, we feel it will strongly resonate with international audiences.” Fionnuala Jamison, Managing Director of mk2 films.

Starring Sydney Sweeney who will appear next in MADAME WEB and BARBARELLA, REALITY also stars Josh Hamilton (EIGHTH GRADE) and Marchánt Davis (THE DAY SHALL COME) and is produced by Noah Stahl, Brad Becker-Parton, Riva Marker, and Greg Nobile. Its executive producers are Ellyn Daniels, Will O’Connor, Daniel Ginsberg, Andrew Beck, Bill Way, Elliott Whitton, Eva Maria Daniels, Philipp Engelhorn, Caitlin Gold, and Tina Satter. It is co-produced by David Duque-Estrada and Rita Walsh. It is a Seaview and 2 SQ FT production in association with Burn These Words, In The Cut, Fit Via Vi, Cinereach, and Tanbark Pictures production.

North America rights are repped by UTA and WME, mk2 films has international rights excluding. It will premiere at the Berlinale in Panorama.

Read more in Deadline.