‘Bird in Hand’ Trailer: A Wedding on a ‘Rebranded’ Plantation

Melody C. Roscher, the producer of “Christine” and “Martha Marcy May Marene,” makes her feature directing debut with “Bird in Hand,” a family farce that premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival. The film is now playing at New York City’s Roxy Cinema and the Nitehawk, along with Los Angeles’ Vidiots Microcinema and the American Cinematheque.

IndieWire debuted the film’s latest trailer this week. It shows what Roscher and her distributors at The Future of Film Is Female are selling: a comedy with genuine wounds underneath.

What is the film about?

“Bird in Hand” draws on Roscher’s own experience as a biracial person. The official synopsis follows Bird Rowe, played by Alisha Wainwright, a newly engaged woman who returns to her rural hometown to plan her wedding. Her mother is Carlotta, a narcissistic hippie played by Christine Lahti.

Bird arrives with a hidden agenda. It leads her to her mother’s new neighbors, a misguided couple on a mission to “rebrand” a plantation. In the words of the synopsis, “Truth, lies, and fantasy collide against that backdrop, leading to a surprising climax as tender as it is funny.”

The cast also includes James LeGros, Jeffrey Nordling, and Annabelle Dexter-Jones. The film bills itself as unafraid of real drama, even as its premise plays for laughs.

Where has it screened?

The 2025 Tribeca Film Festival hosted the premiere. After Tribeca, “Bird in Hand” screened at Bentonville, Richmond, and Virginia film festivals.

Roscher built her career as a producer before stepping behind the camera. Her credits include “Christine,” “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “James White,” and “Simon Killer.” She knows a good story when she sees one, even when the story is her own life.

Who is releasing it?

The Future of Film Is Female, the distributor behind Hannah Peterson’s “The Graduates” and Sierra Falconer’s “Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake),” handles the release. The company has positioned itself as a home for debut and underdistributed work by women.

The rollout continues over the coming weeks. Scheduled expansion cities include:

• Chicago
• Philadelphia
• Tulsa
• Additional cities to be added

Persimmon will bring the film to VOD at a later date, the distributor said. No VOD date has been announced.

What does this change for audiences?

The film gives theatrical audiences a rare chance to see a festival comedy on the big screen before it reaches streaming. For Roscher, it marks the move from producing acclaimed independents to directing them — and it puts a biracial family story, drawn from her own life, at the center of a commercial release.