''Breaking Upwards'' is a 2009 American romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

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 performan ...

Peter Friedman Peter Friedman (born April 24, 1949) is an American stage, film, and television actor. He made his Broadway debut in the Eugene O'Neill play '' The Great God Brown'' in 1972. His other Broadway credits include roles in ''The Rules of the Game'' ( ...

Andrea Martin Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American and Canadian actress, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and '' Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), '' Wag the Dog'' (1 ...

, and

Pablo Schreiber Pablo Tell Schreiber (born April 26, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his stage work and for portraying Nick Sobotka on ''The Wire'' (2003, 2008), William Lewis on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2013–2014), Mad Swe ...

. It explores a 20-something, real-life New York couple battling

codependency In psychology, codependency is a theory that attempts to explain imbalanced relationships where one person enables another person's self-destructive behavior, such as addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-ach ...

who intricately strategize their own break-up. Cited as an example of

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

industry

sweat equity Sweat equity refers to work one does to build up value without a salary. This ownership interest, or increase in value, is created as a direct result of hard work by the owner. For example, homeowners who renovate or repair their house themselves a ...

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

SXSW Film Festival South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both s ...

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, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

on April 2, 2010.

Cast

Festival screenings

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both s ...

(USA; March 2009) * Brooklyn International Film Festival (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 (Netherlands; October 26, 2010)

References

External links

* * *
''Breaking Upwards''
at

IFC Films Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York City, New York. It is an offshoot of IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC, owned by AMC Networks. It mainly distributes independent fil ...

''The New York 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 set in New York City Films shot in New York City 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language romantic comedy-drama films English-language independent films {{2000s-US-film-stub