Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Film screening at Vega Scene
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma was one of the real highlights of this year’s Cannes Film Festival programme. Director Jane Schoenbrun also impressed with I Saw the TV Glow (https://www.vegascene.no/film/UAV20248437) in 2024, and is now one of the most promising new filmmakers on the American indie scene.
Truls Foss, programme director at Vega Scene cinema, on why the film was selected as August’s Månedens Vegavenn-film (Vega Friend of the Month film):
Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma opens with an impressive, meticulously crafted montage introducing us to the “Camp Miasma” film series. A fictional slasher franchise unfolds through VHS covers, breakfast cereals, newspaper clippings, toys, arcade machines and every other kind of merchandise you can imagine. The opening montage serves as the wrapping for a moving, personal and wise story about sex and identity.
The film is a cornucopia of references, but Schoenbrun uses its pop-cultural wrapping in a clever way. While Friday the 13th and the classic slasher film’s grammar are obvious, Persona, Sunset Boulevard and a more dreamlike film tradition lurk just beneath the surface. The references become part of the film’s DNA, reflecting on how popular culture helps shape us, for better and for worse.
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a fascinating treat of a film. It ranges high and low across culture, but approaches it all with the same love and sincerity. It is clear that popular culture shaped Schoenbrun while they were growing up. The way they use it to explore identity is both impressive and unique.
This is certain to be remembered as one of the year’s best and most progressive films. A perfect cultural vitamin boost after a hot summer.
Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) and Gillian (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000096/) Anderson (X-Files) star in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. We follow director Kris (Einbinder), who is tasked with rebooting the enduring slasher franchise Camp Miasma and becomes fixated on tracking down Billy Preston (Anderson), the reclusive star of the original film. Their collaboration quickly spirals into a psychosexual, manic fever dream in which the lines between fiction and reality blur. At the intersection of classic genre conventions and Schoenbrun’s aesthetic sensibility lies a fascinating film that both challenges viewers and draws them into its world.
It is also worth noting that Oslo Pix (https://www.oslopix.no/no/) previewed Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma on Thursday 6 August, as part of the festival programme launch. Programme director Johanne Svendsen Rognlien says the film is also a perfect fit for the festival’s profile:
“We showed I Saw the TV Glow two years ago, a film that generated great interest among audiences. This time, Jane Schoenbrun delivers their best film yet – a funny and deeply original slasher film about identity, popular culture and obsession. And we love Gillian Anderson. She is fantastic as the legendary Billy Preston. This was one of our absolute Cannes favourites this year, and we look forward to sharing it with audiences at our programme launch in August.”
In Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Jane Schoenbrun delivers a film rich in dark humour, playful genre twists, suspense and sharp observations of popular culture.
Review courtesy of Montages.no (https://montages.no). Hear more about the film in this festival podcast (https://montages.no/2026/05/filmfrelst-671-cannes-2026-del-3-metafilmene-teenage-sex-and-death-at-camp-miasma-og-amarga-navidad/) from the Croisette.
