The compelling and unique visuals behind photographer Kourtney Roy’s work became the biggest selling point for her feature debut.

Kryptic, directed by Roy and written by U.K. screenwriter Paul Bromley, follows a B.C. woman in search of a missing monster hunter.

The Canada/U.K. copro is produced by Amber Ripley of Vancouver’s Goodbye Productions, Vancouver-based producer Josh Huculiak, and U.K. producer Sophie Venner.

The film made its world premiere at the SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin, Texas on March 10.

Roy, who was born in North Bay, Ont. and works as a photographer in France, tells Playback Daily that the concept first came together one night in 2019 over drinks with Bromley in London. Bromley, who was a film school chum of Roy’s ex-boyfriend, suggested that they each make a list of things they wanted to see in their potential film.

Bromley wanted a road movie with a female lead, while Roy had a longer list. She wrote down: supernatural, monster, trailer park party, dive bar, awkward sex scenes and mucous.

“It’s a sexual-psycho thriller or a time-bending creature feature,” says Roy.

After the duo spent a year working on a script, Roy met Huculiak through a friend of a friend. He then brought the film to Ripley, president of Vancouver-based Goodbye Productions.

Ripley says it was Roy’s photography work that interested her in Kryptic, even before she read the script.

Roy describes her photography style as “hyper-colourful” and “hyper-realistic,” with an “atemporal” look. Her photos have women wearing clothes that look like they’re from the 1950s, but they’re actually clothes from today.

Roy’s aesthetic translated into Kryptic. The main character uses a laptop from the early 2000s, but wears a baby blue skirt suit that could be from the ’60s, all against the backdrop of motels and trailer parks that could be from the ’70s.

“I already have quite a solid visual universe,” says Roy. “I think that that really helped sell the film.”

Ripley loved the visuals and the script so much that she added Kryptic to her Telefilm submissions in February 2021. This was despite her telling Roy that she already had a few projects to submit and didn’t want to work on another one.

The Kryptic team ended up receiving funding, reworking the script for a year and then filming in the fall of 2022. Due to Bromley’s U.K. citizenship, they coproduced the film with London-based Venner.

“I’ve been telling Kourtney, it’s not always this fast and easy,” says Ripley.

Ripley declined to disclose the exact amount provided by Telefilm, but says that it was within the lower budget range of $2.5 million. The film’s total budget also includes tax credits and private funding.

Canadian distributor Game Theory Films signed on in 2022 before production began. L.A.-based XYZ Films came on as both a sales agent and executive producer in early 2023, right when post-production began.

Manon Barat, XYZ’s director of international sales and distribution for New Visions, says Kryptic was one of the first movies that she saw when she started working on the New Visions slate, which curates global films by emerging talent.

“I remember seeing a first cut and I thought it was absolutely mind-blowing,” says Barat. “She’s saying a lot and she’s saying it in a very beautiful way.”

Ripley adds: “Them [XYZ] coming on board has been a testament to how strong Kourtney’s vision is. And they really, really want to push this and get it out there.”

XYZ has already secured sales for the film ahead of SXSW, though Barat and head of international acquisitions, Todd Brown, could not disclose further details. Brown say the film hasn’t been sold in the U.S. market yet, however, and plan to target U.S. distributors after the premiere.

Brown says that sales in the U.S. are harder than usual, as more and more streamers get absorbed by large media companies.

“It has made everybody hyper-conservative in that marketplace,” he says. “People are afraid of moving on something that isn’t obviously star-driven.”

Barat says that they’re pitching Kryptic as a thriller film by a new and distinct voice who will appeal to fans of David Lynch.

Brown says he thinks the film has good potential for U.S. sales, even without having a star in it: “It’s the right kind of weird.”

“I hope that they [audiences] come back being disturbed and uncomfortable, but feeling, hopefully, exhilarated or somehow satisfied,” says Roy. “Even if they don’t know what’s always going on, they want to know what’s going to keep happening.”

Photo by David Bird