PRIMER

Year: 2004
USA: ThinkFilm
UK: Tartan Films
Cast: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya, Carrie Crawford, Jay Butler, John Carruth, Juan Tapia, Ashley Warren, Samantha Thomson, Chip Carruth, Delaney Price, Jack Pyland, Keith Bradshaw, Ashok Upadhyaya, Brandon Blagg, Jon Cook, David Joyner, Eric De Soualhat
Director: Shane Carruth
Country: USA
USA: 78 mins
UK: 77mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for brief language
UK Certificate: 12A contains moderate language
USA Release Date: 8 October 2004 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 19 August 2005 (Limited Release - London)


Synopsis

PRIMER is a mesmerizing thriller that introduces a gifted new filmmaker with an exciting new sensibility. 31 year-old Shane Carruth, a former engineer who spent three years teaching himself filmmaking, conceived, wrote, directed, edited, and scored PRIMER and also plays one of the lead roles. Amazingly made "for the price of a used car", his impressive feature debut - set in the very world Carruth abandoned to make movies - tells the story of two engineers who stumble upon a remarkable invention which changes their lives in unimaginable ways. Engrossing and provocative in its exploration of the dark side of human nature and science, PRIMER electrified audiences at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prize and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation Award for films dealing with science and technology.

PRIMER is set in the industrial park/suburban tract-home fringes of an unnamed contemporary city where two young engineers, Abe (David Sullivan) and Aaron (Shane Carruth), are members of a small group of men who work by day for a large corporation while conducting extracurricular experiments on their own time in a garage. While tweaking their current project, a device that reduces the apparent mass of any object placed inside it by blocking gravitational pull, they accidentally discover that it has some highly unexpected capabilities - ones that could enable them to do and to have seemingly anything they want. Taking advantage of this unique opportunity is the first challenge they face. Dealing with the consequences is the next.