Oscilloscope Laboratories announced today that it has acquired North American rights to surreal Sundance odyssey “Obex” from filmmaker Albert Birney (“Strawberry Mansion”), written by Birney & Pete Ohs (“Jethica,” upcoming SXSW world premiere “The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick”) and starring Birney. The film world premiered in NEXT at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, scoring strong critical notices with Variety calling it “entrancing and singular”, and IndieWire declaring the film “one of Sundance’s most inventive movies.” “Obex” marks the first solo, live-action directorial effort for Birney.

This black-and-white fantasy further solidifies Birney as a singular filmmaker unparalleled in creative vision. The film follows Conor Marsh (Birney), a man living a secluded life with his dog, Sandy, until one day he begins playing “Obex,” a new, state-of-the-art computer game. When Sandy goes missing, the line between reality and game blurs and Conor must venture into the strange world of “Obex” to bring her home.

The producing team includes Birney, Pete Ohs, Emma Hannaway, and James Belfer, the founder and CEO of production company Cartuna (“Hundred of Beavers”). “Obex” marks the company’s third collaboration with Birney, having also produced “Sylvio” and “Strawberry Mansion.” Ley Line, the company behind indie successes, “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Green Knight,” and “Between the Temples,” also reteams with Birney following their collaboration on “Strawberry Mansion.” The film stars Albert Birney, Callie Hernandez (“Under the Silver Lake”), and Frank Mosley (“Freeland”), with an original score by Josh Dibb of “Animal Collective.”

Birney has directed six feature films including “The Beast Pageant” (co-directed with Jon Moses), “Sylvio” (named one of the ten best films of the year by the New Yorker), and the acclaimed “Strawberry Mansion” (both co-directed with Kentucker Audley), among others. His films have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, and around the world. Birney also served as an animator on Sundance gem “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” and has acted in Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow.”

Director Albert Birney said, “I’ve long been captivated by the unique and thought-provoking films released by Oscilloscope Laboratories. Their discerning taste and dedication to supporting independent voices deeply resonates with me and collaborating with them on ‘Obex’ is an absolute honor.”

Andrew Carlin, Theatrical distribution head at Oscilloscope Laboratories added, “’Obex’ is dreamy, nostalgic, frightening, and completely defies classification. It worms its way into your brain like an 8-bit video game you can’t stop playing. Suffice it to say we were completely dazzled by what Albert and his team pulled off. It’s filmmaking at its purest. Bringing ‘Obex’ to theaters across North America is going to be one of our great joys of 2025.”

Oscilloscope Laboratories has a long-standing history of supporting and releasing films from visionary, independent auteurs. Notably Lynne Ramsay’s Golden Globe-nominated “We Need to Talk About Kevin” starring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly and Kelly Reichardt’s “Wendy and Lucy” and “Meek’s Cutoff” starring Michelle Williams. Oscilloscope made a splash at Cannes this year with one of the buzziest films in the Director’s Fortnight, “Universal Language,” which in turn won the inaugural Audience Award at the independent sidebar. The film has garnered scores of awards and accolades worldwide in addition to being shortlisted for the Best International Feature category at the 97th Academy Awards. “Universal Language” will open in theaters February 14th, 2025, with a national rollout to follow.

The deal for the film was negotiated by Aaron Katz, VP of Acquisitions at Oscilloscope Laboratories with SVP of Global Sales, Lorna Lee Torres of Magnify on behalf of the filmmakers. Magnify handles global sales and is selling the film at EFM. Albert Birney is repped by Fusion Entertainment.

About Oscilloscope Laboratories
Oscilloscope Laboratories is a film production and distribution entity launched in 2008 by Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys. Yauch modeled the company after the indie record labels he grew up around, choosing films and releasing them with the same artistic integrity with which they were made. The company, an extension of Yauch’s recording studio of the same name, has an in-house DVD distribution and production arm, and its paper packaging is reminiscent of the heyday of LP record jackets. Previous and current releases include Lynne Ramsay’s Golden Globe-nominated “We Need to Talk About Kevin” starring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly; Kelly Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff” starring Michelle Williams; Ciro Guerra’s Oscar-nominated “Embrace of the Serpent;” Ceyda Torun’s “Kedi;” Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio’s “May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers;” Alexandria Bombach’s “On Her Shoulders;” Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline;” Hassan Fazili and Emelie Mahdavian’s “Midnight Traveler;” a restoration of Horace B. Jenkins’s “Cane River;” Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan’s “Saint Frances;” Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra’s “The Infiltrators;” Makoto Nagahisa’s “We Are Little Zombies;” Reiner Holzemer’s “Martin Margiela: In His Own Words;” Matthew Rankin’s “The Twentieth Century;” a new restoration of Tom Noonan’s “What Happened Was…;” Garin Hovannisian’s “Truth To Power;” Jessie Barr’s “Sophie Jones;” Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt’s “No Ordinary Man;” a new 4K restoration of John Cameron Mitchell’s “Shortbus;” Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis’s “The Tale Of King Crab;” Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s “Clara Sola;” Ori Segev and Noah Dixon’s “Poser;” Marq Evans’s “Claydream;” Danny Cohen’s “Anonymous Club;” Rita Baghdadi’s “Sirens;” Helmut Dosantos’s “Gods Of Mexico;” Saim Sadiq’s “Joyland;” Ryan Stevens Harris’s “Moon Garden;” Ann Oren’s “Piaffe;” Carolina Cavalli’s “Amanda;” Koji Fukada’s “Love Life;” and hundreds more.

Current and upcoming releases include Ondi Timoner’s extended cut of the iconic breakthrough rock documentary, DIG! XX and Matthew Rankin’s Cannes Director’s Fortnight Audience Award Winner and the 97th Oscars® Shortlist Selection for Best International Feature, “Universal Language.”