BBFF26 Late Fame

Ed Saxberger (Willem Dafoe) once published a slim poetry collection before settling into a quiet life working at the New York post office. Decades later, an enthusiastic young admirer turns up at his door, having discovered the forgotten book and convinced he has unearthed a lost genius. Swept into a circle of twentysomething writers and artists, Ed is flattered by the attention and intrigued by Gloria (Greta Lee), the group’s magnetic, theatrical “tragic heroine”. But as the past is repackaged as cultural currency, Ed begins to wonder how much of this new acclaim is real - and what it might mean to take his abandoned artistic life seriously again. Directed by Kent Jones and written by Samy Burch, from Arthur Schnitzler’s novella, Late Fame is a witty, warm-hearted New York story about art, ego, aging and second chances. Byron Premiere