EXCLUSIVE: Keir Gilchrist (Atypical), Ethan Cutkosky (Shameless), Luca Padovan (You), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade) and newcomer Caden Martel are set to star in NightFlirt, a new indie horror film written by Case Avron and Matan Hamam and directed by Avron, in his feature debut.
The film unfolds across two timelines, 2009 and 2025, centering on a chronically online college dropout and an underage OnlyFans streamer who are contacted by the same mysterious stalker. Part of a new filmmaking movement exploring an internet-bred psychology, it comes on the heels of Avron’s recent short film, By the Window (HollyShorts, Popcorn Frights), which captured a similar digital landscape, where a high school boy’s online investigation of a kidnapping puts him in real world danger.
Hamam and Bryn Kelly are producing NightFlirt, alongside Harold Kahane, Michael Zapesotsky and Julia Barlow, with Avron’s longtime mentor Mark Pellington exec producing. The project marks the debut feature for Kilohertz, a NYC-based independent film studio focused on uncompromising narratives for the modern era. The film is cast by David Guglielmo and Emma Fleming, with production set to begin this winter.
Avron and Hamam met during their freshman year of college at NYU and have collaborated on numerous short films, with NightFlirt — written during their senior year — marking the first feature project for each of them. California natives, the two shared more cultural touchstones from early YouTube and Reddit than life on the West Coast. Avron started as an editor for Pellington, Kali Uchis, Francesca Scorsese, and Kai Cenat. A freelance writer/director, Hamam, was an honorary graduate and the commencement speaker for his NYU Tisch class.
Known for leading Netflix’s Atypical, and most recently seen starring in projects like The Walking Dead: Dead City and By Design, Gilchrist is represented by CAA, Thruline Entertainment, Amanda Rosenthal Talent Agency, and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols.
Best known for starring in Showtime’s Shameless, Cutkosky’s recent credits include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Happy Gilmore 2. He is repped by Gersh and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis.
Recently seen in the film The Life List and on the serial killer thriller series You — both on Netflix — Padovan will be seen coming up in Kent Jones’ Late Fame starring Willem Dafoe and Greta Lee, which world premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival and will be released by Magnolia Pictures. He is repped by Innovative Artists.
Breaking out as the star of Bo Burnham’s A24 pic Eighth Grade, Fisher’s most recently appeared in films like Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, which premiered at Cannes, and the Rose Byrne drama Tow, which is set to hit U.S. theaters on March 20 after premiering at last year’s Tribeca Festival. She is repped by Innovative Artists.
Martel is represented by Luber Roklin Entertainment.
