Cannes: Stephen Lang, ‘Eighth Grade’ Star Elsie Fisher Team for Emotional Drama ‘Avenue of the Giants,’ First Look Revealed (Exclusive)

Stephen Lang (Avatar), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Robin Weigert (Deadwood) and Luke Blumm (Where The Crawdads Sing) have teamed for writer/director Finn Taylor’s feature Avenue of the Giants, which recently wrapped filming. A first-look photo has also been unveiled.

Avenue of the Giants tells the true story of Herbert Heller (Blumm), who kept his experience as a teenage boy surviving for years in Auschwitz hidden from his family. That is until he meets Abbey (Fisher), a young teenager whose own brush with pain and death inspires him to open up as well, leading the two of them to exchange their stories as a meaningful and healing friendship is born.

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The film was produced by Jeanine Thomas and George Rush. Debi Memmolo, Greg Taxin, and Noah Lang executive produced. David Minkowski and Matthew Stillman for Stillking Films (The Gray Man) co-produced alongside Jennifer Goshay, Michael Manasseri, Jeffrey Brown, and Mirka Taylor.

“The journey of this film for me began in 2018 when I had the pleasure of seeing Herbert share his story with a gym full of teens, their ubiquitous cell phones silent,” said Taylor, a three-time Sundance alum known for films such as The Darwin Awards, starring Winona Ryder, Alessandro Nivola, Juliette Lewis and Tim Blake Nelson, as well as Unleashed, starring Kate Micucci, Illeana Douglas, Justin Chatwin, and Sean Astin.

“It was not only the story of someone taken to the camps at age 12, who escaped Auschwitz and the Birkenau death march at the age of 15, but also how he lived with this traumatic secret for 60 years. I knew then, the huge task at hand. Herbert sadly left our world last year but his message of kindness and tolerance perseveres through his actions, and now our film. I believe that sharing his story of survival – and the power of healing he left in his wake – is more important to the world today than ever.”

Lang, Fisher and Weigert are all represented by Innovative. Blumm is repped by The People Store, Carson Kolker, and Link Entertainment.

The film is currently settling on a sales deal, with a theatrical release planned for early 2024 after a festival tour this fall.

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