JULIAN HART
American Animals
(Film 4 / AI Films / Sierra Affinity / RAW Films)
'American Animals' is Bart Layton’s dramatic debut follow-up to his BAFTA-winning documentary 'The Imposter.'
It's based on the true story of four college students who mistook their lives for a movie and attempted one of the most audacious art heists in U.S. history. 'American Animals' takes the heist genre and turns it inside out, blurring the line between truth and fiction in a wild story of money, movies and the search for meaning.
'American Animals' was selected for the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance Film Festival 2018.
Stars Evan Peters (X-Men: Apocalypse), Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk), Blake Jenner (Everybody Wants Some) and Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale).
Julian won a British Independent Film Award for his editing, shared with editors Nick Fenton and Chris Gill.
Bart won a BIFA for Best Debut Screenwriter.
American Animals was nominated in a further nine categories, including Best Film.
“A riveting college-boy crime caper that speeds along on pure movie-movie adrenaline, before U-turning into a sobering reflection on
young male privilege and entitlement."
“As a four-man editing team expertly negotiates these crashing leaps in tone and tempo, Anne Nikitin’s agile, mood-swinging score flips from Vegas jazz to shrill, swarming electronica; meanwhile, Ole Bratt Birkeland’s snappy camerawork, with its slick of oily hues and shadows, surges into feverish handheld motion. This is unabashedly virtuoso, show-off filmmaking."
“This is an indie that could go places."
“Craft contributions, notably the editing and the score, are aces."
“American Animals is a legitimately exciting, funny, suspenseful, and at one point deeply upsetting crime film."