A Better Place

From View Askew Productions (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma) and Executive Producers Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier (Good Will Hunting) comes first-time director Vincent Pereira's "edgy teen thriller" (Filmmaker Magazine).

Barret Michaelson (Robert DiPatri) is having a bad first day at his new high school - he is badgered, ridiculed, and nearly beaten up. He finds an unlikely ally in local loner Ryan Walker (Eion Bailey, Almost Famous, Fight Club), an intelligent but misanthropic youth with a dark family past. A friendship quickly develops, but Barret begins to worry as Ryan's philosophical ranting turns increasingly violent. When Barret does the unthinkable and makes peace with the local teenagers Ryan so despises, Ryan loses all control and attempts to drag Barret down into his world of hatred and destruction and Barret must find a way to escape.

A harrowing depiction of teen violence and rage, A Better Place has been called "a bracing, disturbing film with an underlying humanity" (Stephen Gallagher, The Hamptons International Film Festival) and "Sharply written, with stellar performances... A Better Place deals frankly with the dark side of the American teenage experience" (Mitch Davis, Fantasia Film Festival).