Adam Carter Rehmeier is an American film director, writer and cinematographer best known for his coming of age films '' Dinner in America'' and '' Snack Shack''.

Early life

Rehmeier grew up in

Nebraska City Nebraska City is a city in and the county seat of Otoe County, Nebraska, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 7,222. The Nebraska State Legislature has credited Nebraska City as being the oldest incorporated city in the ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, the son of District Judge Randall Rehmeier. As a teenager in the early 1990s he worked the snack shack, at Steinhart Park Pool in the Missouri River community, an experience he would later write into his film ''Snack Shack''. He attended Columbia College in Chicago where he studied film with a cinematography concentration. He began working as a documentary camera operator, shooting low-budget feature films and documenting the touring jam band

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the ...

Career

In 2008, Adam Rehmeier and actress Rodleen Getsic co-directed the torture porn film '' The Bunny Game''. The film follows a

sex worker A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work is ...

(played by Getsic) who is abducted by a sadistic truck driver who commits sexual violence against her. The film was shot in black and white over 13 days on a budget of $13,000. In addition to co-directing, Rehmeier acted as both cinematographer and editor. The film was released in 2010 and was subsequently banned in the United Kingdom after the

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organization, non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited ...

refused to classify it due to its graphic scenes of sexual and physical abuse. Despite its controversy, the film showed at over 40 film festivals internationally and was distributed in seven territories. Rehmeier followed up ''The Bunny Game'' with ''Jonas'', a film that has been cited as being a companion piece. A parable in six verses, the film follows Jonas, a man who washes up on the California coastline and travels around Los Angeles, going door-to-door to spread his message. '' Dinner in America'' was Rehmeier's third film and after its release attained cult status, partially thanks to

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

listing it as one of his favorite films of 2022 in ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

'' after its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. The story follows a relationship between a neurodivergent girl ( Emily Skeggs) and an anarchist punk ( Kyle Gallner). Due to the films initial release falling during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, it struggled to find an audience; however, it became popular on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

in 2024 and was able to drum up interest for a delayed theatrical run. In 2022, Rehmeier began working on the

semi-autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

film '' Snack Shack'', which is loosely based on his own childhood experience in Nebraska City. MRC, Paperclip Limited, and

T-Street T-Street is an American film and television production company led by Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman. Under its T-Street Productions division, the company is responsible for the feature-length film ''Knives Out'' and the sequel ''Glass Onion''. H ...

produced the film. The film had a limited theatrical release in March 2024 by

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rehmeier, Adam American male screenwriters American cinematographers Film directors from Nebraska Living people Writers from Nebraska 21st-century American male writers