by Alex Billington
April 30, 2026
Source: YouTube
“If you’re honest about what you want, astonishing things can happen…” Variance Films has revealed the official trailer for O Horizon, an indie drama from filmmaker Madeleine Rotzler as her latest indie project that she has written and directed. This first premiered at the 2025 Santa Barbara Film Festival last year, and it also played at the Lighthouse Film Festival as well. Ready for a theatrical release in limited theaters in June / July during the summer. O Horizon stars Oscar nominees Maria Bakalova & David Strathairn as daughter and father. A neuroscientist mourning the loss of her father is suddenly able to speak with him through a new technology, causing her to question everything from her relationships to her life’s work. The cast includes Adam Pally, Maggie Grace, Avi Nash, and Paulina Porizkova. It’s yet another artificial intelligence drama about using AI software to recreate your deceased loved one. But this has been done so many times over and over recently, so many films are doing this exact same story. This has the more upbeat comedic vibes of Her, with a few twists thrown in as the story plays out with a new bf & dead dad calling her.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Madeleine Rotzler’s film O Horizon, direct from YouTube:
Abby (Maria Bakalova), a brilliant, young neuroscientist who has recently lost her father, drowns her grief by spending her days working with a monkey named Dorey. Abby meets a programmer, Sam, who has created a technology that reconnects Abby with her beloved father. Her relationship with her digitized dad then forces her to re-examine everything from her romantic relationships to her life’s work. O Horizon is written and directed by indie filmmaker Madeleine Rotzler (fka Madeleine Sackler), director of indie films The Lottery, Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus, O.G., and It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It previously. Produced by Madeleine Rotzler, Paul Nelson, Audrey Tommassini, Joseph Cross. This initially premiered at the 2025 Santa Barbara Film Festival early last year. Variance Films debuts Rotzler’s O Horizon film in select US theaters starting June 12th, 2026 coming up this summer. Want to watch it?
