Writer-director Lynn Shelton has drawn a ton of praise this year for her touching and troubling dramedy Your Sister's Sister. The film, which centered on the tangled relationship of a man in mourning, his generous best friend and her heartbroken big sister, scored coveted spots at the Toronto International Film Festival and Sundance before hitting theaters in the U.S. last June. It was widely celebrated by critics, and went on to earn nearly 13 times its budget at the domestic box office. In the early stages of award season announcements Your Sister's Sister has already scored its star, Rosemarie DeWitt, a Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female, and now you can get a look at she and Shelton's next collaboration Touchy Feely.
Shelton shared the pics below with EW, and confessed her next feature will be more of a drama than her previous works. The story centers on a siblings Abby and Paul, parts Shelton wrote with DeWitt and Josh Pais in mind. "If they hadn’t been available, I wouldn’t have shot the movie," she tells the magazine. Abby (who you can see in the first still below) is a massage therapist who abruptly and inexplicably becomes repulsed by bodily contact. Cut off her healing work, Abby loses her sense of identity.
As his sister struggles, introverted and uptight dentist Paul attracts all kinds of attention when word gets out about his healing touch. In the image below, he consults with Abby's mentor Bronwyn (Alison Janney), an expert in Reiki, an energy channeling healing technique.
Touchy Feely will premiere this January at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it will compete for the Grand Jury prize within the Dramatic category.
