Based on her 2020 short “Shako Mako,” Hailey Gates writes and directs “Atropia,” a unique war satire about western views of the Middle East. While both its lampooning of U.S. militarism ...

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The war satire “Atropia,” about actors in a military role-playing facility, won the grand jury prize in the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. dramatic competition ...

This is the official image from “Atropia,” courtesy of the Sundance Institute. “Atropia” is almost too real to be called a satire. The film centers on Atropia, a fake city built outside of Los Angeles ...

So she turned the idea into an unconventional love story instead, and “Atropia” was born. The film, which premiered on Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival, was originally conceived as a documentary ...

plotting her escape from a simulated war zone at an army base camp by secretly recording audition tapes for casting agents. In Atropia, Gates, who also wrote the screenplay, includes a hampering ...

Based on her 2020 short “Shako Mako,” Hailey Gates writes and directs “Atropia,” a unique war satire about western views of the Middle East. While both its lampooning of U.S. militarism and its ...