After TV Glow's success, "everyone except Mubi" passed on Jane Schoenbrun's follow-up

That might have been unsurprising after We’re All Going To The World’s Fair, Schoenbrun’s micro-budget debut—though that slow scroll coming-of-age film about one teen YouTuber’s performance (or is it?) of the “World’s Fair Challenge” has found its audience. It’s downright shameful after I Saw The TV Glow, which made $5 million on less than 500 screens, was nominated for numerous awards, landed on several Best Of lists (including The A.V. Club‘s), and caught the eye of Martin Scorsese. Clearly, many people saw Schoenbrun’s potential as an artist, including A24, which distributed TV Glow. 

Ultimately, it is a sign of our horrible times. Now that the U.S. has retreated into a close-minded mess of conservative talking points, fear-mongering, and boot-licking, it’s become harder for trans artists to get the resources they need to tell their stories. “When I look around in our ‘post-woke, post-Biden’ era, I don’t see any other trans artists getting budgets, and that’s a fucking shame,” they said. “I shouldn’t be the only one who’s making movies at this level of budget.” Nevertheless, Schoenbrun is confident that “this movie will be a hit.” 

Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma premieres at the Cannes Film Festival on May 13. It opens in theaters in the U.S. on August 7.