The last time actor Alex Karpovsky brought a feature-film directorial effort to Indie Memphis in 2012, he won a top prize.
Red Flag, his semi-autobiographical drama about an indie filmmaker who takes a road trip through the American Southwest after a tough break-up, won Best Narrative Feature. This year, Karpovksy is back with his subsequent directorial film effort, Riptides, which screens Saturday November 7th.
The 93-minute dark comedy premiered at the beginning of the month at the New/Next Film Festival in Baltimore and has a couple of very obvious HBO series connections. First and foremost, there is of course Karpovsky himself, known for his role as Ray on Girls. And there is also Steve Little, who co-stars as Toby, a Mexico tourist town beach bum and Airbnb manager, who played Stevie Janowski on Eastbound and Down.
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| Steve Little as Toby |
Riptides is set in the Mexico Pacific coast beach town Sayulita. Much like Zihuatanejo, located an hour to the south, it's anchored to a bohemian, expatriate vibe and a maze of cobblestone streets. Into that mix and Toby's Airbnb arrives a self-help guru Paul Melton (Dylan Baker) and his daughter Michelle (Bojana Novakovic). Things quickly take a dark turn and Toby is soon helping Michelle try to keep the dreamy cash flow of her father's empire alive.
“New/Next is really one of the rising film festivals in the United States,” Indie Memphis artistic director Brandon Harris told WKNO-FM's Kacky Walton. “Riptides is a comedic, beach town film noir. It's a hoot.”
Harris is on a return journey of his own with Indie Memphis. After serving as artistic director initially in 2016-17, he left the festival's fold and worked as both an executive with Amazon Studios and as a contributing editor for Filmmaker magazine.
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| Shifting to the South Main Arts District |
He rejoined Indie Memphis earlier this year, once again as artistic director, and is set to oversee the event's move to a downtown location. In a very funny sort of coincidence, Harris directed his own film back in 2012 that had a similar title to Karpovsky's Red Flag. It's called Redlegs.
Riptides is produced by Danny McBride and David Gordon Green. Following the screening in Memphis, for which Karpovsky will participate in a Q&A, Riptides will continue on to the Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington, North Carolina for a November 21st showing.
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