JOHN AND THE HOLE Launches on August 6

IFC Films is pleased to present the psychological coming-of-age thriller JOHN AND THE HOLE, directed by visual artist Pascual Sisto - one of Variety's "10 Directors to Watch" of 2021 - in his feature debut. A selection of the canceled 2020 Cannes Film Festival and featured in the 2021 Sundance Film Festival (in competition), JOHN AND THE HOLE will open on Friday, August 6 in select theaters and everywhere films are rented.

In this enigmatic and unsettling meditation on adolescent angst, 13-year-old John (Charlie Shotwell) discovers an unfinished bunker while exploring the neighboring woods - a deep hole in the ground. Seemingly without provocation, he drugs his affluent parents (Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Ehle) and older sister (Taissa Farmiga), holding them captive within the bunker. As they anxiously wait for John to free them from the hole, the boy returns home, where he can finally enjoy and explore a newfound independence.

Artfully exploring the difficult passage from childhood freedom to adult responsibility, JOHN AND THE HOLE is adapted by screenwriter Nicolás Giacobone (who also produced) from his short story "El Pozo." Giacobone earned Academy Award and Golden Globe wins for Birdman, an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film for co-writing Biutiful and has an upcoming film, Limbo, in production with Alejandro Iñárritu that he also co-wrote. The film's sound design team includes Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc and Carlos Cortés, who took home the Academy Award for sound on behalf of Sound of Metal.

Pascual Sisto is a Spanish artist and filmmaker currently based in New York. He earned a BFA in film from the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California, and an MFA in media arts from UCLA. His visual art and video installations have exhibited internationally in galleries and museums, including the Centre Pompidou, MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art and the 53rd Venice Biennale. He has also directed award-winning short films and works in commercial video.