“The Fallout” is a compelling exploration of the inexplicable resiliency of life and the hope that emerges out of loss. Megan Park’s feature screenwriting and directing debut won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for Narrative Feature at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival, while also garnering Park the festival’s Brightcove Illumination Award for her screenplay. Bolstered by new friendships forged under sudden and tragic circumstances, high schooler Vada (Jenna Ortega) begins to reinvent herself, while re-evaluating her relationships with her family, friends and her view of the world.
Moving away from her comfortable family routine, she starts taking chances with a series of quicksilver decisions that test her own boundaries and push her in new directions. As she spends more time with Mia (Maddie Ziegler), they grow closer, and Vada slowly redefines herself through their shared experiences, leading her further away from that day and closer to living her life in the now.
The film stars Jenna Ortega (“Scream,” “You,” “Yes Day”), Maddie Ziegler (“West Side Story,” “Music”), Niles Fitch (TV’s “This Is Us,” “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”), Will Ropp (“The Way Back,” “The Sex Lives of College Girls”), with John Ortiz (“Ad Astra,” “Bumblebee”) and Julie Bowen (TV’s “Modern Family,” “Hubie Halloween”) and Shailene Woodley (“Big Little Lies,” “The Divergent Series”). Megan Park directed the film from her own screenplay.
Shaun Sanghani, Todd Lundbohm, David Brown, Rebecca Miller, Cara Shine, Joannie Burstein and Giulia Prenna produced, with Christina Lundbohm, Greg Young, Mark Andrews and Stephanie Denton executive producing. Park’s creative team included director of photography Kristen Correl (“Ad Astra”), production designer Justin Dragonas (TV’s “Vital Signs”), editor Jennifer Lee (“The Skeleton Twins”) and costume designer Tasha Goldthwait (“An American Pickle”), with original score by Finneas O’Connell (“No Time to Die”) and Peymon Maskan (“Into the Blue”) serving as music supervisor. The soundtrack also features an original song written and performed by Maisy Stella & Lennon Stella.
