Two nuclear families — both headed by a pair of sisters — go on a darkly comic family vacation that takes a turn for the suddenly tragic in Laurynas Bareiša’s grimly funny “Drowning Dry.” The film was Lithuania’s pick for the 2025 Best International Feature Academy Award, and while it didn’t make the cut, “Drowning Dry” previously won Best Director and Best Performance for its ensemble at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival. As IndieWire exclusively announced, Dekanalog will release the film stateside on Friday, July 18 at IFC Center with Bareiša in attendance, followed by Los Angeles and other major U.S. cities to be announced.
“Drowning Dry” also played at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and at New Directors/New Films. Written, directed, and shot by Bareiša, “Drowning Dry” tells, per the distributor “the story of two sisters, Ernesta (Gelminė Glemžaitė) and Justė (Agnė Kaktaitė), whose lives are irrevocably altered after a near-tragic accident involving one of their children during a weekend getaway with their spouses, Tomas (Giedrius Kiela) and Lukas (Paulius Markevičius).”
The film eventually seems to take a meta turn as the same events are shown from a slightly alternative-timeline version of the telling, with subtle and offbeat performances from the cast — Ruben Östlund is a fitting reference.
The release marks Bareiša’s second collaboration with Dekanalog, who previously distributed his 2021 Venice International Film Festival’s Horizons Award-winning debut feature, “Pilgrims.”
Dekanalog is dedicated to the release of unique filmmaking voices and musical scores from around the world, founded in 2020 by Elijah Drenner, Lysa Le, and George Schmalz. Dekanalog has recently distributed the Independent Spirit Award-nominated C.J. “Fiery” Obasi’s “Mami Wata,” last year’s Dutch Academy Awards submission Ena Sendijarević’s “Sweet Dreams,” and last year’s Swiss submission Carmen Jaquier’s “Thunder.”
“Drowning Dry” opens in select theaters July 18. Watch the trailer, an IndieWire exclusive, below.
