''Breaking Upwards'' is a 2009 American

romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

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, Wein, Julie White, Peter Friedman, Andrea Martin, 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 Swe ...

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

codependency In sociology, 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-achiev ...

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 produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

industry sweat equity, the film was shot in Manhattan and Brooklyn on a $15,000 budget. It premiered at the SXSW Film Festival on March 14, 2009, and was released simultaneously at New York City's IFC Center and via video on demand on April 2, 2010.

Cast

Festival screenings

South by Southwest 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 ...

(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
''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