Invention
Callie Hernandez (The Endless) co-writes and stars in this inventive, autofictional indie that evokes the tone of a Haruki Murakami detective story, as a daughter investigates her estranged late father’s experimental health marketing schemes.
Director Courtney Stephens scheduled to attend.
Tickets
Select showtime for pricing and tickets.
Friday, May 16, 2025
- Limited Availability
- On Standby
- Matinee
Saturday, May 17, 2025
- Limited Availability
- On Standby
- Matinee
Following the death of her father, Carrie (Callie Hernandez, The Endless) inherits his patent of a healing device, now recalled by the FDA. As she is numbed by grief, her journey unfolds on vibrant Super 16mm film and actual archival footage from lead actress and co-writer Hernandez’s late father, blending and distorting reality as an artifact in the death of a parent. Carrie meets with her father's snake oil purchasers and investors to understand someone who is outside of comprehension. She has lost her father twice, first to conspiracy and pseudoscience, and second in death. Invention is a film that explores belief and legacy—often in the absurdities of faith and fraud. Director Courtney Stephens shows the American mythology of quick fixes through gadgets that are built upon a broken healthcare system as Carrie numbly navigates meetings with lawyers, former patients, investors, and others who knew her father intimately.
—Aly Shwedo
- Director: Courtney Stephens
- Principal Cast: Callie Hernandez, Sahm McGlynn, Lucy Kaminsky, Tony Torn, James N. Kienitz Wilkins
- Country: USA
- Year: 2024
- Running Time: 72 min.
- Producer: Courtney Stephens, Callie Hernandez
- Screenplay: Courtney Stephens, Callie Hernandez
- Cinematographers: Rafael Palacio Illingworth
- Editors: Dounia Sichov, Courtney Stephens
- Music: Thomas E. Dimock, Sarah Davachi, Cate Kennan, Twig Harper
- Website: Official Film Website
- Awards: Locarno Film Festival 2024 (Best Performance)
- Filmography: John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office (2025), Terra Femme (2021), The American Sector (2020)
- Language: English
- Format: DCP
- International Sales: INDOX