Awkwafina Cancer Tragicomedy Leads Eight Films at Wrocław's U.S. in Progress

Eight American independent films in final post-production will compete for 13 awards at U.S. in Progress, the co-production forum running Nov. 17-19 alongside the Tauron American Film Festival in Wrocław, Poland. The headline name is Awkwafina, who stars in Mercedes Bryce Morgan's "Kate Might Die" alongside Anthony Ramos, Ken Jeong and Zosia Mamet.

The film follows Kate McAnneny, a first-time production designer training for the New York City Marathon whose husband is about to finish rehab — when she's diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. Whitewater Films produces, with Balcony 9 and Sweetheart Entertainment co-producing.

"This film is based on a true story… but weirder," Morgan said. "It's about a young woman diagnosed with breast cancer, trying to run the New York Marathon, but our version also has her being chased by giant boobs, stumbling through a battleground of 100 dead Awkwafinas and getting swept into a flash mob led by Anthony Ramos." She calls it a "tragicomedy about mortality, ambition and marriage," adding: "I never wanted to make a 'cancer movie' that treated illness with kid gloves. Cancer is fucking terrifying. It is also awkward, messy, funny, sexual and surreal."

What does the forum actually change for these films?

U.S. in Progress matches near-finished American indies with European — mainly Polish — post-production partners and financiers. Festival director Urszula Śniegowska frames it as matchmaking: "I feel like a godmother, with a small g, when I see a Polish company's name in the finishing credits of a project that's premiering at Sundance or Cannes. This sharing platform makes sense, and I hope we can help foster more lasting collaborations between Polish and American producers in the future."

"U.S. in Progress is exactly the right place for 'Swim Fishy' at this stage," said director Kristen Buckles Cantrell. "It's a chance to connect with European partners who understand how intimate, character-driven stories can travel." Her "Swim Fishy," produced by 2801 Productions with Lola Kirke, Pauline Chalamet and John Gallagher Jr. starring, sends a newly pregnant woman on a road trip with her estranged sister to redefine motherhood. Cantrell calls it a story of "intergenerational family trauma… how it shapes us but hopefully doesn't define us."

Time travel, slashers and suburban heists

Colin West's "Outside of Cleveland" stars Alex Wolff as Max, who returns home when his parents (Jim Gaffigan, Sarah Wayne Callies) sell the house — and wakes up in 2009 as his 18-year-old self. "This film was born from that strange mix of nostalgia, regret and possibility that comes with going home," West said. "It's about the lives we didn't live and making peace with the one we're living right now." Brain Scratch Productions, 1515 Films and Sub_Sequential Pictures produce.

Rachel Kempf and Nick Toti's "Scary New Year," a 16mm-shot slasher produced by Ruby Mannequin Films, strands partygoers with a sociopath. "We set out to make a slasher movie that wasn't just a throwback or a superficial homage to 80s slashers, but one that recreated the conditions and techniques of those older, low-budget films as much as possible," they said in a joint statement — including a live burn scene instead of CGI fire. "It's a slasher about friendship and the fear of growing up… And some really fucked up kill scenes."

Jared Goodman's "Buyback" (Run It Hot, with Rockhill Studios and Hardball Entertainment) follows three teenagers who exploit a state gun buyback program, stealing unsecured firearms from neighbors for cash. Producer Daryl Freimark calls it a film where "a simple juvenile scheme snowballs into a nail-biting thriller, complete with a motorcycle chase across the George Washington Bridge." Goodman, coming from documentary, says it weaves "a timely and important issue… into a coming-of-age story that organically evolves into a full-blown heist thriller." Gyula Owen Asztalos, Saniyya Sidney and Ignacio Diaz-Silverio star.

Identity and intimacy on the slate

Benjamin Chung-Ying Eckersley's "Your Dad" marks the first role outside China for Li Cong Xi, known for "An Elephant Sitting Still" and "The Sun Also Rises." He plays a grieving father visiting New York, where his architect son Kun resists him but Kun's Chinese-American boyfriend Michael does not. "This film grapples with what we strive to inherit, preserve and recreate in ourselves," the director said.

Oliver Edwin's "Situation #64," produced by The Space Program (behind "Sorry to Bother You" and "Shiva Baby"), stars Edwin alongside Hari Nef and Louisa Jacobson as performance artists whose breakup becomes raw material. "I have tried to examine our era's sacrifice of intimacy for spectacle through the lens of a performance artist creating her most important work," Edwin said. Boy Harsher's "The Lonely Woman," produced by Base 12 and Spacemaker, completes the lineup.

Coordinator Monica Semczyk says this year's participants will also scout locations in Lower Silesia, following Pawel Pawlikowski's "Fatherhood" footsteps — "castles and medieval churches await." The event runs with support from the Polish Film Institute, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Lower Silesia Wrocław Film Commission – DCF and the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.