***Opening Night Film – 2026 Florida Film Festival
A small-time hustler (Kyle Gallner, Strange Darling, Smile) becomes entangled with Caroline (Samara Weaving, Over Your Dead Body, Ready or Not)—charismatic, determined, and unwilling to settle for the life in front of her. What begins as a spontaneous romance gradually reveals deeper tensions, as ambition, insecurity, and competing dreams test their bond. As the relationship intensifies, both are forced to confront who they are, what they want, and how far they’re willing to go to escape their pasts.
Known for his character-driven storytelling and sharp emotional insight, director Adam Rehmeier (Dinner in America) crafts an intimate crime story about two people in search of connection and reinvention in the contemporary South. Gallner delivers a deeply heartrending performance, capturing the vulnerability of someone desperate to matter to another, anchoring the film’s emotional core with a balance of tenderness and unease. Together with Weaving, this sexy and kinetic modern-day Bonnie and Clyde thriller burns with the reckless devotion of two lost souls chasing an American dream all their own.
2025, 105 Minutes, USA, Directed by Adam Rehmeier, Rated R
““Carolina Caroline” is sharp, soulful, and unexpectedly affecting, a crime romance powered by the uneasy rush of reinvention and escape”
– Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
“Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner, two fine actors rarely granted the glow that comes with a proper star vehicle, positively bask in it here”
– Guy Lodge, Variety
“Carolina Caroline basks in a love for all things American: muscle cars, open roads, the sounds of classic rock and country coming through the radio, and honky tonk bars.”
– Andrew Parker, The Gate
“Caroline & Oliver do a good deal of wrong, but every ounce of it feels right thanks to leads with a beautiful blend of passion, determination & sensitivity, and a director with an impeccable handle on style and an ability to make his movies deeply human.”
– Perri Nemiroff
“A rip-roaring, tragic, joyride.”
– Zachary Lee, RogerEbert.com
