By Jessica Herndon
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. While we can learn a lot about the filmmakers from the 2025 Sundance Film Festival through the art that these storytellers share with us, there's always more we can learn about them as people. We decided to get to the bottom of those artistic wells with our ongoing series: Give Me the Backstory!
For queer writer-director Addison Heimann, art possesses the power to not only bring us together but help us grow. The lovely thing about art is, in its specificity comes universality, he says. Art has a way of normalizing experiences unknown to you. It fosters empathy as well as entertainment. In a world that can be so full of hate, I'd love to continue creating films that foster love. And, yes, alien sex horror comedies can do that! Yes, they can!
Heimann's Touch Me, premiering in the Midnight section of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, is the alien sex horror comedy he's referring to. In the film, two besties come in contact with an alien and become addicted to its touch. Heimann's second feature film - his first, Hypochondriac, premiered at SXSW Film Festival in 2022 - is a stylish, edgy, terrifying treat that explores desperation, mental health, and power.
Inspired to write Touch Me after struggling with depression recovering from a friendship breakup, Heimann says his love for filmmaking is partly fueled by its ability to make him feel less alone - and he hopes his art makes others feel like the same. Not only do I want to make art for people who suffer from mental illness to identify with, I also want to make movies that speak on the queer experience, he says. I'm so grateful for the abundance of indie queer content these days, and even more so in the genre space. I am so humbled to get to be a part of that community. So, queer people, I hope you find this. I hope you enjoy, laugh, maybe cry, and definitely say, Ew!'
Below, Heimann chats about moving from Chicago to Los Angeles to pursue his filmmaking dreams, the production setback that turned into a gift, and what makes horror an important genre.
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