Body-Transfer Comedy
Homebody
Starring Colby Minifie (The Boys)
Winner! OutFest & NewFest
Cinedigm announced that writer-director Joseph Sackett’s body-transfer fantasy comedy Homebody would release theatrically on November 11th, followed by a digital and exclusive Fandor release on December 6th.
Premiering at Outfest, where it won the Emerging Talent Award, the film went on to screen at NewFest, where Colby Minifie was awarded Best Performance, Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Toronto where it won Best First Feature, and many other festivals including Cleveland International, Milwaukee, New Hampshire, etc.
Colby Minifie (The Boys) stars in this lighthearted, genderqueer comedy, expanded from Joseph Sackett’s 2018 short I Was in Your Blood. Young Johnny discovers a YouTube video that teaches him how to send his spirit out of his body and into his beloved babysitter Melanie. He can see through her eyes and operate her from the inside out. Johnny-as-Melanie plays dress-up, buys obscene amounts of candy, and has awkward run-ins with her friends, clients and partners. The pressures of pretending to be someone else can stack up fast!
Homebody is the directorial feature debut for Sackett, one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” whose shorts have screened in competition from Slamdance to Cannes.
The film also stars Maria Dizzia (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Zoe Chao (The Afterparty), Tre Ryder (After the Wedding) and Whitmer Thomas (The Civil Dead).
“As clever as it is sweet, Homebody is a progressively modern riff on movies like Big or Being John Malkovich,” says Aaron Hillis, Director of Programming at Cinedigm. “Subverting the familiar high-concept plot of a body-swap comedy, filmmaker Joseph Sackett and his cast have created something hip, fun and proudly queer.”