GIANT PICTURES ACQUIRES
SCI-FI/ROMANCE
‘ANYA’
FOR RELEASE ON ALL DIGITAL HD PLATFORMS AND DVD
NATIONWIDE ON NOVEMBER 26, 2019
ANYA TRAILER NOW AVAILABLE
What Does It Mean To Be Human?
Los Angeles, CA – (OCTOBER 21, 2019) – Giant Pictures, the digital film distribution division of Giant Interactive, has acquired North American digital rights for ANYA, a sci-fi romance that tackles the ethics and consequences of powerful new genetics technologies. ANYA, a Taylor/Okada film under their First Encounter Productions banner, is the first narrative feature of filmmaking partners Jacob Akira Okada and Carylanna Taylor, PhD. The trailer for ANYA is now available!
Inspired by futuristic and sometimes chilling developments in the worlds of anthropology and genetics, ANYA is a contemporary sci-fi love story about a couple whose determination to have a child leads them to a cutting-edge geneticist, an ancient outlier community hiding in plain sight in New York City, and ultimately, a life-changing question: are they willing to have a gene-edited baby, no matter the cost?
ANYA stars Ali Ahn (Orange is the New Black, Supernatural), as ‘Libby,’ a Korean-American stringer journalist and workaholic who sees Marco as someone with whom she can build a family; Motell Foster (The God Committee, Marriage Story), as ‘Seymour,’ Libby’s ex and an evolutionary geneticist who chose research over Libby and is now trying hard to make it up to her; and Gil Perez-Abraham (POSE, The Farewell, Law & Order: SVU) as ‘Marco,’ who is torn between his new life with Libby and the enclave community he abandoned.
“As filmmakers, we assembled a fresh and inclusive cast to bring our story to life and designed a fluid and intimate shooting style that pulls the viewer into the moment. And as storytellers, we created a rich, comprehensive, and anthropologically sound history, culture, and language for the “Narval,” a genetically isolated and secretive people at risk of extinction,” said Taylor.
Giant Pictures will release ANYA on November 26, 2019 on all digital platforms including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vimeo, Vudu, Xbox, plus DVD nationwide. The film will screen at numerous conventions, film festivals, and universities now and beyond the film’s release in November. The dates, and information on the filmmakers’ attendance, Q&A’s, and locations are available at the official film website: www.anyamovie.com
“ANYA is a timely, thought-provoking film and Giant Pictures is proud to be partnering with such innovative filmmakers on their digital release,” said Sarah Dawson of Giant Pictures.
In ANYA, a young couple’s personal quest to have a child becomes a provocative, yet utterly dramatic, exploration of some of the most challenging issues facing humanity today. Libby is a journalist who operates in the world of facts and first-hand observations, while her enigmatic husband, Marco, is the product of a mysterious culture he is forbidden to discuss.
As they suffer through three miscarriages, Libby turns to science, hoping that fertility charts and thermometers will solve their problem. But Marco feels compelled to reveal something he has known his entire life: his culture, a forgotten people called the "Narval," who migrated from a remote Caribbean island, believes that anyone who marries outside the community, as he did, is cursed to never have children.
Determined to disprove what is clearly a groundless superstition, Libby turns to an ex-boyfriend who is a rising star geneticist. A simple swab of the cheek, a startling DNA reading, and an encounter with Marco’s extended family, opens a Pandora’s box of consequences involving genetic testing, gene-editing, and invasion of privacy. Viewers are left asking: what does it mean to be human?
“ANYA is not only a cautionary tale about the challenges presented by fast-moving science. The film is, at heart, an emotionally-involving drama about two people trying to create a family in a world where the definition of family is changing every day,” said Okada.
Blending drama with pressing contemporary issues, and folklore with science, ANYA affirms that we all belong to the same human family and deserve to be valued for our differences, as well as our similarities.
WATCH THE TRAILER:
Websites:
anyamovie.com
firstencounterproductions.com
Social Media:
facebook.com/anyamovie/
twitter.com/anyamovie
instagram.com/anya.movie/
ABOUT Jacob Akira Okada and Carylanna Taylor, PhD.
ANYA is the first narrative feature by anthropologist Carylanna Taylor, PhD (writer/producer), and documentary filmmaker Jacob Akira Okada (writer/director). Under their First Encounter Productions banner, Taylor and Okada have also produced the feature documentary PAINTING THE WAY TO THE MOON and narrative short EVERY OTHER WEEKEND. Taylor and Okada are dedicated to crafting entertaining films at the intersection of science, anthropology, and contemporary culture.
Okada’s first film, the documentary CURTIS (2004 Sundance, honorable mention in short film making), led him to 16+ years freelancing as a shooter, editor, and producer of documentaries. He shot and co-produced the Emmy nominated OFF AND RUNNING for PBS, which premiered at Tribeca (2009). Okada’s passion for research, vérité, and complicated characters helped define ANYA.
Taylor is an applied cultural anthropologist (PhD, University of South Florida) anthropologist by training who is dedicated to crafting grounded stories that broaden world views by immersing audiences in new cultures and ideas. Her research on migration in Latin America and the U.S. shapes ANYA. She is currently developing an immigration thriller inspired by her work with Honduran families living transnational lives.
Like the newlywed couple at the heart of ANYA, Taylor and Okada are an intercultural couple. Okada grew up in Manhattan and Boston with a writer mother from Romania and Japanese-American photographer father. Taylor, a product of immigrants from seven European countries, grew up with her sci-fi loving dad in a trailer park in southwestern PA. The filmmaking partners bonded while producing PAINTING THE WAY TO THE MOON and got married while developing ANYA.
About GIANT PICTURES
Giant Pictures is a boutique digital distributor based in NYC and Los Angeles, which is dedicated to elevating the digital experience. Working directly with filmmakers and rights owners, Giant distributes movies and TV shows to VOD & OTT platforms in North America and worldwide. Giant is a division of Giant Interactive, an award-winning digital media and technology services company, and is an iTunes Preferred aggregator and encoding house. Recent movie and documentary releases include: ‘306 Hollywood’ (Dir. Elan & Jonathan Bogarin, Sundance 2018), ‘Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.’ (Dir. Steve Loveridge, Sundance 2018), ‘Newness’ (Dir. Drake Doremus, starring Nicholas Hoult, Laia Costa, Sundance 2017). Visit us at: www.giant.pictures.com
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