Oscilloscope Laboratories announced today that it has acquired North American rights to surreal Sundance odyssey OBEX from filmmaker Albert Birney (STRAWBERRY MANSION), written by Birney & Pete Ohs (JETHICA, upcoming SXSW world premiere THE TRUE BEAUTY OF BEING BITTEN BY A TICK) and starring Birney. The film world premiered in NEXT at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, scoring strong critical notices with Variety calling it “entrancing and singular”, and IndieWire declaring the film “one of Sundance’s most inventive movies.” OBEX marks the first solo, live-action directorial effort for Birney.

The film follows Conor Marsh (Birney), a man living a secluded life with his dog, Sandy, until one day he begins playing OBEX, a new, state-of-the-art computer game. When Sandy goes missing, the line between reality and game blurs and Conor must venture into the strange world of OBEX to bring her home.

The producing team includes Birney, Pete Ohs, Emma Hannaway, and James Belfer, the founder and CEO of production company Cartuna (HUNDRED OF BEAVERS). OBEX marks the company’s third collaboration with Birney, having also produced SYLVIO and STRAWBERRY MANSION. Ley Line, the company behind indie successes, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, THE GREEN KNIGHT, and BETWEEN THE TEMPLES, also reteams with Birney following their collaboration on STRAWBERRY MANSION. The film stars Albert Birney, Callie Hernandez (UNDER THE SILVER LAKE), and Frank Mosley (FREELAND), with an original score by Josh Dibb of ANIMAL COLLECTIVE.

Birney has directed six feature films including THE BEAST PAGEANT (co-directed with Jon Moses), SYLVIO (named one of the ten best films of the year by the New Yorker), and the acclaimed STRAWBERRY MANSION (both co-directed with Kentucker Audley), among others. His films have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, and around the world. Birney also served as an animator on Sundance gem WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR and has acted in Jane Schoenbrun’s I SAW THE TV GLOW. 

Director Albert Birney said, “I’ve long been captivated by the unique and thought-provoking films released by Oscilloscope Laboratories. Their discerning taste and dedication to supporting independent voices deeply resonates with me and collaborating with them on OBEX is an absolute honor.”

Andrew Carlin, Theatrical distribution head at Oscilloscope Laboratories added, “OBEX is dreamy, nostalgic, frightening, and completely defies classification. It worms its way into your brain like an 8-bit video game you can’t stop playing. Suffice it to say we were completely dazzled by what Albert and his team pulled off. It’s filmmaking at its purest. Bringing OBEX to theaters across North America is going to be one of our great joys of 2025.”

Oscilloscope Laboratories has a long-standing history of supporting and releasing films from visionary, independent auteurs. Notably Lynne Ramsay’s Golden Globe®-nominated WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN starring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly and Kelly Reichardt’s WENDY AND LUCY and MEEK’S CUTOFF starring Michelle Williams. Oscilloscope made a splash at Cannes this year with one of the buzziest films in the Director’s Fortnight, UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, which in turn won the inaugural Audience Award at the independent sidebar. The film has garnered scores of awards and accolades worldwide in addition to being shortlisted for the Best International Feature category at the 97th Academy Awards. UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE will open in theaters February 14th, 2025, with a national rollout to follow. 

The deal for the film was negotiated by Aaron Katz, VP of Acquisitions at Oscilloscope Laboratories with SVP of Global Sales, Lorna Lee Torres of Magnify on behalf of the filmmakers. Magnify handles global sales and is selling the film at EFM. Albert Birney is repped by Fusion Entertainment.