When director Andrew Durham and Alysia Abbott adopted Abbot’s acclaimed memoir Fairyland and brought it to screen, the film got rave reviews when it premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The film was also shown at Biarritz, Palm Springs and Frameline, opening the latter. It has still taken Fairyland two years to reach the big screen, but we finally have a theatrical release date.
A great build-up that took its time for this Sophia Coppola-produced film that stars the likes of Coda's Emilia Jones, A Complete Unknown's Scoot McNairy and The Apprentice's Maria Bakalova. Glee's Adam Lambert and the must-watch Geena Davis also star. The question still remains: Is Fairyland worth this build-up and wait?
When will Fairyland premiere in theaters?
Despite the wait, there's no doubt that you're ready to see this critically-acclaimed movie hit theaters. The date is set for this fall.
You can see Fairyland in theaters from Friday, Oct. 10. Even if you got the chance to see it at the Sundance Film Festival, you need to see it in theaters.
What is Fairyland about?
Closely following Abbott’s memoir, the film tells her story as it evolves after the tragic death of Abbott’s mother in a 1973 car accident. Abbott moves to San Francisco to live with her poet, activist and bohemian father Steve Abbott, who came out as gay. Being a parent and a bohemian at the same time is not something that is easily perceived by either Alysia or the people they encounter in their daily lives, as her father seems to give her more independence than she wishes to have had at the time.
As could be expected in such a situation, personal family bonds get stressed in so many ways and both personal and family dramas evolve. As years pass, Alysia gets immersed in San Francisco artists and writers scene of the time on one hand and the fast-evolving AIDS crisis, which catches her father too.
Talking about what brought him to adapt Abott’s memoir for the big screen, Durham notes with Variety:
“I was so captivated and inspired by Alysia Abbott’s memoir, not only because of the unique portrayal of this father-daughter relationship, one that we hadn’t seen before, but also because of the universal themes that I think a lot of kids and parents can relate to.”
According to all the reviews Fairyland received, Durham and all involved in the creating of this film were able to create a moving, engaging drama that is able to tackle all the themes this film covers. It just might turn out that the high expectations Fairyland has created are very real and that the audiences will get a moving and a very engaging film experience.