The Big Picture
- The Sweet East is a twisted coming of age story that follows high school student Lillian as she navigates a series of intense and bizarre encounters outside of her South Carolina life.
- The film, directed by Sean Price Williams, explores America as a series of concentric cults, challenging liberal punchlines and progressive logic.
- Talia Ryder stars as Lillian, leading audiences through a tour of society’s demand to be mocked, and is joined by a talented young cast including Jacob Elordi and Jeremy O. Harris. The film premieres on December 1.
Sean Price Williams makes his directorial debut with The Sweet East, a twisted coming of age story with a trailer that dares you to go down the rabbit hole with him. Written by Nick Pinkerton, the film follows high school student Lillian as she gets her first taste of the world outside of her life in South Carolina. As Lillian attends a class trip in Washington, D.C. she gets separated from her classmates. This forces her to interact with various groups of people that each have their own strong beliefs and sense of reality. The trailer details how she falls into intense crowds that range from potential pedophiles to groups that take part in racially charged rallies — making it clear that her journey will be far from normal.
After debuting at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, The Sweet East was reviewed by film critic David Ehrlich, and per IndieWire, he described the film as being an “unhinged” tale. “Williams is an acclaimed cinematographer whose free-range, scuzz-core aesthetic has become synonymous with several of the most bitter and/or feral independent films of the last 15 years,” he writes. “Textured with Williams’ usual grain and kept alive by his keen eye for detail, ‘The Sweet East’ essentially sees America as a series of concentric cults… In real life, it’s the stuff of modern American myth, but in the bizarro world of ‘The Sweet East,’ every liberal punchline is taken at face value, and every morsel of progressive logic is treated like a joke.”
Who Stars in ‘The Sweet East’?
The Film Is Overflowing With Young Talent
Talia Ryder stars in The Sweet East as Lillian. She acts as the guide for audiences as, according to Ehrlich, Lillian leads everyone “on a tour through some kind of stupid new hell” in a coming of age tale that shows how society “demands to be mocked”. Joining Ryder is Euphora and Priscilla star Jacob Elordi as Ian, one of the many personalities she meets on her journey. Rounding out the talented young cast are Jeremy O. Harris (Emily in Paris) as Matthew, Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) as Molly, Early Cave (The School for Good and Evil) as Caleb, Rish Shah (Ms. Marvel) as Mohammad, Gibby Haynes (Seymour Ruck) as Abbot, and Simon Rex (Americana) as Lawrence.
The Sweet East might be the first time Williams is in the directors chair, but it’s been a long time coming, as he tells Variety that he “never really wanted to be a cinematographer.” He worked as an accomplished lensman for years before he was finally able to fulfill his dream, as he “didn’t think anybody would ever give me money to do it.” Luckily, his longtime collaborator (who just so happens to also be a producer on the film) Alex Ross Perry was able to put him in a room with the right people, and The Sweet East was born. Williams shares how the film has a strong “political element” to it with the background of a “rock concert from 1968.”
The Sweet East will premier on December 1 at the IFC Center in New York, followed by a national release. Watch the trailer below:
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
