The Friend

Based on the bestselling award-winning novel by Sigrid Nunez, THE FRIEND is a moving ode to friendship, grief, and healing, starring Academy Award nominees Naomi Watts (Birdman, Eastern Promises) and Bill Murray (Lost in Translation), and in his debut role, Bing, a 150-pound Great Dane.

Writer and teacher Iris (Watts) finds her comfortable, solitary New York life thrown into disarray after her closest friend and mentor (Bill Murray) unexpectedly passes away, leaving her his beloved Great Dane, Apollo. The regal yet intractable dog immediately creates practical problems for Iris, from furniture destruction to eviction notices, as well as raising existential issues around her own being. Yet as Iris finds herself unexpectedly bonding with Apollo, she begins to come to terms with her past, and her own creative inner life in this story of healing, love, and friendship.

Screening July 31 at Luna Leederrville