Lucid, directors Deanna Milligan and Ramsey Fendall’s trippy 90s-inspired art-punk film, has been acquired by Dark Star Pictures for release in the U.S.
Starring in the independent film are Caitlin Acken Taylor (Pistol), Georgia Acken (The Sacrifice Game, Under the Bridge), Amber Dandelion, John Luna, and Vivian Vanderpuss (RuPaul’s Drag Race).
The Canadian indie film world premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival in 2025 before its U.S. debut at Brooklyn Horror and European premieres at the Sitges and Noam Faenza Film Festivals.
Lucid takes place in a dreamlike and surreal universe, shot in 35mm and Super 8 film. The film follows Mia (Acken Taylor), an art student who is on the verge of being expelled from school, as she finds her last hope for combating her creative block in a magical lucid dreaming elixir. Awakening her creativity, the potion also unleashes a number of dark monsters that inhabit her subconscious, one of which is her mother, who appears transformed into a hairy monster that Mia is forced to confront. Vanderpuss, the star and winner of the Miss Congeniality title in the the third season of Canada’s Drag Race, designed and wears the hair monster costume herself.
“Lucid is exactly the kind of daring, genre-bending filmmaking we love championing at Dark Star – it’s visually hypnotic, emotionally raw, and unapologetically weird in all the right ways,” says Dark Star President Michael Repsch. “We’re excited to help introduce this unforgettable film to U.S. audiences.”
Deanna Milligan, in addition to being a veteran Canadian actor with dozens of film and television credits, is known as a director for her visceral, emotionally charged storytelling rooted in the beautiful grotesque. Her collaborator, co-director, and co-writer Ramsey Fendall is a cinematographer and visual artist who often shoots on 35mm and 16mm film, with credits including Ethan Hawke’s Seymour: An Introduction (2014) and Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy.
Lucid is set for a Canadian theatrical release on May 29, 2026, with a U.S. release to follow later this year.
Watch the trailer for Lucid above.
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