EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a first look at Thenasthe gritty debut from filmmaker Peter Gold ahead of its world premiere at the Taormina Film Festival on June 14.
The film stars Izabel Pakzad, Dakota Lotus, Chris Bauer and Virginia Gardner, and is based around a young musician from Palo Alto who spirals into drug addiction in San Francisco.
Her devoted younger brother risks everything to find her, and the film follows him as he ventures into San Francisco’s darkest corners, discovering that some people don’t want to be saved and that love isn’t always enough to bring them home.
Pakzad (Find Your Friends) is the titular Thena. She stars alongside Dakota Lotus (Coop & Cami Ask the World), who plays her brother Ovid, Chris Bauer (The Wire, True Blood), Virginia Gardner (Fall, Halloween), Will Peltz (Euphoria), Malia Baker (Descendants: The Rise of Red), Duke Nicholson (Us), Brian Marc (White Girl), Jamal Trulove (The Last Black Man in San Francisco) and Lorraine Farris (Natural Born Killers).
Betsy Franco (The Deuce), Maccckendie in Nro (Salvation) and Esteban Gast (Sidekicked) wrote the film.
Gold (Our Hero, Balthazar) produces alongside Michael Gandolfini (The Many Saints of Newark, Warfare), Pakzad and Harry Cherniak (Something You Said Last Night). Executive producers are Nic Sheff (Beautiful Boy), Leo Scott (Val), Jon Wroblewski (Our Hero, Balthazar) and Christian Sosa (Our Hero, Balthazar). Tim Curtin (Chiara) serves as DoP, with music composed by Greg Tripi (The Neon Demon). Thenas is edited by Sam Bauer (Donnie Darko) and Matt Laroche (Suburban Hero).
“I grew up in the Bay Area, so Thenas hits close to home,” said Gold. “It isn’t a lecture – it’s just my take on what I kept seeing on San Francisco’s streets. Addiction, codependency, the unhoused community – I wanted to show them honestly, not glamorize them or turn the film into a message. It’s about what it looks like when someone you love disappears into that world.”
Here are some more images ahead of the premiere.
