EXCLUSIVE: Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution arm of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has acquired VOD rights to Intrusive Thoughts, the feature directorial debut of Saumene Mehrdady (Tehrangeles, Milkshakes).
Sarah Chang Tadayon, Alexander Morales, and Angela Barber star in the film, described as a “mumblecore drama,” produced by Mehrdad Sarlak & Joel Villegas Saldaña. It will become available to rent or own on North American digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms, as well as on DVD, beginning January 13.
“Intrusive Thoughts tells the story of Gabe Torres [Morales], a struggling filmmaker who spends an awkward week moving out after breaking up with his girlfriend, Sasha Khosravi [Tadayon],” notes a description of the film. “As Gabe ponders whether or not to give up on the dream, his therapist, Dr. Martha [Angela Barber], succumbs to unethical temptations as a result of their sessions. Meanwhile, Sasha’s family-arranged date with a new guy goes awry, leaving both exes spiraling and questioning how or why to move forward.”
Top: Sarah Chang Tadayon; Bottom: Alexander Morales, Angela Barber
Freestyle Digital Media/
The film is a production of newly formed independent studio HBHK.
“With Intrusive Thoughts I wanted to make something that focuses on three dimensions of dissonance in our current moment – to be creative in a culture that’s been increasingly devaluing it, to be a lover in an increasingly loveless and transactional world, and the struggle to unblur one’s professional ethics under the weight of longing,” filmmaker Saumene Mehrdady said in a statement. “Intrusive Thoughts is a movie about desire, doubt, and the things we do when we’re afraid of being unseen.”
Freestyle Digital Media negotiated the deal to acquire Intrustive Thoughts directly with HBHK and Glen Reynolds at Circus Road Films.
Producer Mehrdad Sarlak
Courtesy of Matthew Carey
Producer Mehrdad Sarlak has more than a dozen films among his producing credits, including La Piñata de Marcel (Marcel’s Piñata, 2024), Tehrangeles (2020), and Just Hold On (2020). As an actor, he has appeared in Oscar Best Picture winner Argo, FX TV series Nip/Tuck, and two dozen other series and films. Sarlak serves as executive producer on the upcoming feature documentary Learning to Survive: A Lesson in Student Homelessness, directed by Kevin Naughton. Among producer Joel Villegas Saldaña’s producing credits are Tehrangeles and Cherry and Highland (2013). He directed the 2023 short David Se Va which Sarlak produced, along with several music videos and the 2017 short Subterra.
Recent releases from Freestyle Digital Media include Allswell In New York starring Emmy award-winning actress Liza Colón-Zayas from FX series The Bear; All Happy Families, starring Josh Radnor and Rob Huebel; The Ghost Trap starring Zak Steiner (Euphoria) and Greer Grammer (Awkward), and the Weekly World News horror-comedy The Zombie Wedding.