21st Calgary Underground Film Festival

April 18-28, 2024

12th CUFF.Docs Documentary Film Festival

November 2024

Itchy Fingers

United States, 2020 : International Premiere
Archives 2021
None
Stream on Demand
Available to watch Apr 23 - May 2
Buy

description

Ernie Burroughs (Zachary Shultz) cares about one thing: being funny. After graduating high school, he devotes his days to posting videos of his act online, waiting to get discovered. When his dad (Jeff Prather) insists he either go to college or get a job, Ernie offers a compromise: he’ll join a community theatre group. Ms. Reddy (Elsa Guenther), the group’s charismatic director, instantly senses something special about Ernie and casts him as the lead of her upcoming “group-devised” production. Ernie is thrilled until he realizes the play will be about a school shooting and he will be playing the shooter. Reluctant at first, he agrees to stick with it, hoping he can somehow turn the play into a comedy. Throughout the rehearsal process, Ms. Reddy and the group push Ernie through demanding psychodramatic exercises designed to help him connect with his character. Gradually, the play infects his life, his mind and his relationships. He grows suspicious of the world around him, believing that something sinister behind the scenes is manipulating him toward an inevitably violent end.

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Tallgrass Film Festival 2020
San Francisco Independent Film Festival 2021

DIRECTOR'S BIO
Anna Nilles & Marco Jake find solace in absurdity. Their first film, BARK (2017), won the “Programmer’s Stand Out” Award at Hell’s Half Mile Film Festival and “Best Windy City Feature” at Blow Up International Arthouse Film Festival and is currently available to stream on NoBudge. ITCHY FINGERS (2020) is their second feature length film. They live and work in Chicago.

Closed captioning is available for this film. Find Out More >

CJSW Playlist Created by Helen, host of Future Language, Fridays, 2-4PM

press for Itchy Fingers

"It’s a film unlike any other you’ve ever seen and truly defies whatever genre we think it might be—comedy, drama, thriller."
- Film Threat

details

Narrative / Drama / Female Filmmaker

English
107 minutes

credits

Director
Anna Nilles
Marco Jake

Producers
Marco Jake
Anna Nilles
Dan Pal

Screenwriters
Marco Jake
Anna Nilles

Cast
Elsa Guenther
Zachary Schultz
Jeff Prather
Catie Councell
Samantha Newcomb

Official website:
http://nillesandjake.com

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/itchyfingersfilm

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/itchyfingersfilm/

community

awards

Winner Outstanding Narrative Feature & Outstanding Male Actor, Tallgrass Film Festival 2020