Music Box Films has acquired Tom Gustafson and Cory Krueckeberg’s “Glitter & Doom.” The film is billed as a “fantastical queer romance” and the musical comes with songs from the Grammy Award-winning Indigo Girls. “Glitter & Doom” premiered as the closing night film at InsideOut Toronto. It went on to play gala slots at more than 50 LGBTQ+ festivals around the world. Music Box is planning a March 8, 2024, theatrical release in NYC and L.A. That will be followed by a nationwide theatrical rollout and a VOD release.
The film comes at a time when Indigo Girls have been enjoying a popular resurgence. Their anthem “Closer to Fine” was featured at a key moment in last summer’s “Barbie” and a new documentary about their lives and careers, “Indigo Girls: It’s only Life After All,” premiered at Sundance and will be released theatrically by Oscilloscope Laboratories.
“Glitter & Doom” features 25 Indigo Girls songs that were produced, arranged and reimagined by Michelle Chamuel (“The Voice”). They include some of the pair’s most popular songs, such as “Galileo,” “Get Out The Map,” “World Falls” and “Power Of Two.” In addition, Indigo Girls wrote and recorded a new original song “What We Wanna Be” for the film, which will be eligible for an original song Oscar.
According to the official synopsis, “Glitter & Doom” follows the love at first sight journey of a circus dreamer named Glitter, played by Alex Diaz, and struggling musician named Doom, played by Alan Cammish. Ming Na-Wen and Missi Pyle co-star as the lovers’ mothers. The supporting cast is rounded out by queer talent such as Lea DeLaria, Tig Notaro, Kate Pierson (B-52s), “Drag Race” alum Peppermint, Broadway star Beth Malone and the Indigo Girls themselves, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers.
“We immediately loved the script for ‘Glitter & Doom’ and became even more enamored as we watched the film grow and heard the production and arrangements of our songs,” said Saliers. “It’s an honor to be included in this artful and heartfelt story of misfits finding love.”
Ray commented on creating a new song for the film, saying it was “inspired by the film’s characters and by my own experience of peeling off the layers of things I have built over the years to shield me from pain or even my own truth.”
“It is a conversation between Glitter and Doom and their endeavor to find healing through the love they have kindled together,” Ray added. “And as importantly, the grace that allows them to live fully as their own selves. Because of Michelle Chamuel’s richly creative and unique approach as the producer of our songs in the film, we were thrilled to be able to bring a new song to fruition with her.”
“We are forever grateful to Amy & Emily for trusting us with their art and indebted to them for the depth and dynamism their music adds to our story,” said Krueckeberg and Gustafson. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Music Box Films to bring our film to a larger audience. We deeply admire their support of independent cinema and proud ‘Glitter & Doom’ will be a part of their filmography.”
“We are so excited to share this movie with audiences throughout the country,” said Brian Andreotti, head of acquisitions at Music Box Films. “Tom and Cory have crafted a joyous tribute to the incredible music of the Indigo Girls that is also a celebration of the LGBTQ community and a gorgeously cinematic love story.”
“Glitter & Doom” was made in co-production between Krueckeberg & Gustafson’s company SPEAK productions, Broadway producer Hunter Arnold’s TBD Pictures and CDMX-based Sin Sentido Films and La Palma de Oro Films. Krueckeberg & Gustafson have made seven films including the cult hit musical fantasy “Were the World Mine,” “Mariachi Gringo” and “Hello Again.”
With the guidance of SPEAK’s legal counsel Craig Cohen, director and producer Tom Gustafson negotiated the deal directly with Music Box Films’ Andreotti.
