'H.' Movie Premiere: Directors Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia Bring Sci-Fi Thriller To US Screens

"H.," written and directed by Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia, will receive its much anticipated U.S. theatrical release starting Friday, April 1 at the Made in New York Media Center in New York City, followed by a VOD release later this year. The U.S./Argentina co-production had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and has successfully played in several international film festivals, including the Berlinale’s Forum and Sundance’s NEXT.

Attieh and Garcia fuse drama and the conventions of tragedy and science fiction to create a mysterious and thought-provoking feature on responsibility and fate. The directors were awarded the "Someone to Watch" Independent Spirit Award for the film, and the pair have been pegged as talents to watch by various media outlets, including Filmmaker Magazine. For her performance in H., actress Robin Bartlett was nominated for Best Supporting Female at the most recent Independent Spirit Awards.

The film follows two women, each named Helen, who live mirrored lives in the town of Troy, New York. The first Helen—played by Bartlett—is in her 60s, lives with her husband, and takes care of an eerily lifelike baby doll called a "Reborn Doll," which she cares for as though it were alive. The second Helen is in her 30s, has a successful art career and is four-months pregnant.

One night, something unexplainable falls out of the sky and explodes over the town. In the aftermath of this event, bizarre and unexplainable things begin to happen. As people in the town go missing en masse and unnatural cloud formations begin appearing in the sky, the two women find themselves and their lives spinning out of control. H. explores change and being changed. Helen and Helen are changed by forces outside of their own control.

H. marks Attieh and Garcia's third collaboration, their previous filmsRecommended by Enrique (2014) won the Jury Prize for Best Cast at the Los Angeles Film Festival and Ok, Enough, Goodbye (2011) won various awards including, the Jury Prize at the Torino Film Festival, and Honorable Mention at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival and the San Francisco International Film Festival. H. received production support and funding from the Venice Biennale College, Cinema Program.