Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

 

Jane Schoenbrun: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (US/CA 2026). Gillian Anderson (Billy Presley) and Hannah Einbinder (Kris Williams).

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, AG/Mon 8:30PM, Robert Daniels (Telluride Film Festival 2026): "With their first two films—WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR and I SAW THE TV GLOW—Jane Schoenbrun precisely mingled childhood memories with nostalgic media through a queer lens. Their latest, a playfully meta picture, moves with the same exacting force when Kris (Hannah Einbinder), an independent filmmaker, ventures to a defunct summer camp to interview a reclusive scream queen (Gillian Anderson). There, she undergoes a feverish, erotic awakening, inspiring her to shed sexual angst as she seeks artistic and bodily liberation." –RD (U.S./Canada, 2026, 112m)

    Finnish premiere: 7 Aug 2026 - distributed by Elke - subtitles by Juha Arola.

    Viewed at Finnkino Kinopalatsi 3, Helsinki, 14 Oct 2026

AA: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is my first encounter with the work of Jane Schoenbrun, and I am profoundly impressed. The slasher film is a genre which might seem to have been exploited to death many times over... and over... and over again. It never seems to die.

Jane Schoenbrun (I am old school and have not yet interiorized the use of the gender neutral "they") has an approach to meta cinema like no one else. No one has done it better. Schoenbrun has an assured approach with all the tropes and traditions. Fun is to be had with the arcana, real or imagined. There is much more going on than a sense of play.

What is at stake? Identity, being seen, love and sex. "What a strange path I had to take to reach you at last" (Michel's last words in Pickpocket). It is as queer as can be.

In the center is one of the greatest love scenes in the history of the cinema. It is also one of the greatest sex scenes, because the sex flows from tenderness, discovery/self-discovery and the courage to let go.

The bloodbath of the attacks of the slasher from the deep hole in the bottom of the lake appear as an image of the loss of virginity. Also an inverted dream image of orgasm. The serial killer is, after all, Little Death. The Frenchmen call the post-orgasm sensation "la petite mort".

Schoenbrun is at home in the dream world, the endless universe of the imagination where the ridiculous meets the sublime, and kitsch enhances reality. The digital transfer has been performed from 35 mm cinematography, contributing to the tactile warmth of the love scenes.

Excellent performances by Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder.

I look forward to revisiting Camp Miasma and seeing other films by Schoenbrun. After seeing the film, I read Sight & Sound, the October 2026 issue. The excellent Schoenbrun cover story has been edited by Katie McCabe.

Jane Schoenbrun: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (US/CA 2026). Gillian Anderson (Billy Presley) and Hannah Einbinder (Kris Williams).

SOUNDTRACK LISTING

Okay Kaya – Nightswimming (originally by R.E.M.)

Mark Maxwell – Just My Imagination (originally by The Temptations)

Sergei Stern – Fashin Real Estate

M83 – I Guess I'm Floating

Sally Shapiro – Anorak Christmas

Counting Crows – A Long December

Sade – No Ordinary Love

Andy Shauf – Satan

Donna Lewis – I Love You Always Forever

R.E.M. – Supernatural Superserious

Loc: British Columbia, Canada (Nanaimo, Glenora, Vancouver, Victoria).

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