''Breaking Upwards'' is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by

Daryl Wein Daryl Robert Wein (born December 23, 1983) is an American artist, filmmaker, producer and actor. Early life Born in Los Angeles, California to Jan Sparling and Mitchell Wein, he was raised in Westport, Connecticut. His father worked as a creative ...

, starring

Zoe Lister-Jones Zoe Lister-Jones (born September 1, 1982) is an American actress, and filmmaker who co-starred as Jen Collins Short in the CBS sitcom ''Life in Pieces'' from 2015 to 2019. She is also known for her roles in the television shows ''Delocated'' (20 ...

, Wein,

Julie White Julie K. White (born June 4, 1961) is an American actress. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in ''The Little Dog Laughed'' in 2007. She has also received three other Tony Award nominations for her performanc ...

Peter Friedman Peter Friedman (born April 24, 1949) is an American stage, film, and television actor. Life and career Born in New York City, Friedman graduated from Hofstra University Andrea Martin Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American-Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and ''Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), ''W ...

, and

Pablo Schreiber Pablo Tell Schreiber (born April 26, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is best known for his stage work and for portraying Nick Sobotka on ''The Wire'' (2003), William Lewis on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2013–2014), Mad S ...

. It explores a 20-something, real-life New York couple battling codependency who intricately strategize their own break-up. Cited as an example of independent film industry

sweat equity Sweat equity is a non-monetary benefit that a company's stakeholders give in labor and time, rather than a monetary contribution, that benefit the company. Sweat equity is rewarded in the form of sweat equity shares. These are shares given out by a ...

, the film was shot in Manhattan and Brooklyn on a $15,000 budget. It premiered at the

SXSW Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...

on March 14, 2009, and was released simultaneously at New York City's

IFC Center IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. Located at 323 Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) at West 3rd Street, it was formerly the Waverly Theater, an art house movie theater. IFC Center is ...

and via

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

on April 2, 2010.

Cast

Festival screenings

* South by Southwest Film Festival (USA; March 2009) *

Brooklyn International Film Festival The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF), prior to 2011 called the Brooklyn International Film Festival (BiFF) is an independent film festival held every June in Brooklyn, New York. Started by Marco Ursino, Susan Mackell, Abe Schrager, and Mario Pegoraro ...

(USA; June 5, 2009) *Athens Film Festival (under title, ''Doseis horismou'') (Greece; September 19, 2009) *Titanic International Filmpresence Festival (under title, ''Szép kis szakítás'') (Hungary; April 11, 2010) *

Leiden International Film Festival The Leiden International Film Festival (LIFF) is a film festival based in the Netherlands. The Leiden International Film Festival was founded in 2006 by Alexander Mouret, Michaël Roumen, Michel Zorge, Wouter de Bres and Job Zeestraten. The fes ...

(Netherlands; October 26, 2010)

References

External links

* * *
''Breaking Upwards''
at

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its ...

''The New York Times'' review''Los Angeles Times'' review

''Women's Wear Daily'' cover story
2009 films 2009 independent films 2009 romantic comedy-drama films American independent films American romantic comedy-drama films Films about couples Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{indie-film-stub