When provide exceeded demand on the “Fucktoys” merch desk, Annapurna Sriram shifted her function at Fantasia Fest from film star to crowd management. The primary-time filmmaker from Nashville is a educated dominatrix who does quadruple-duty in her dazzling function debut. Sriram directs, writes, produces, and stars in “Fucktoys,” the epic misadventure of a sweetheart intercourse employee residing with a curse in candy-colored Trashtown, USA.
“We convey merch with us in every single place, however if you journey, the burden allowance means you possibly can solely pack a lot,” Sriram advised IndieWire in Montreal. “Final evening’s screening was over 600 individuals, and I had no thought we might promote out. Then, I used to be right down to my final poster.”
Illustrated by Canadian artist Suspiria Vilchez, the “Fucktoys” poster is ideal ‘60s pastiche with only a pinch of contemporary perversion. A attractive riff on “Roman Vacation,” the promo picture exhibits main girl “AP” (Sriram) straddling an previous blue scooter, licking a heart-shaped lollipop, and sporting clear platform heels with white babydoll socks.
“Our traditional card reader doesn’t work exterior the U.S., so we had to make use of money or a special app,” she defined. “This poor woman is attempting to obtain PayPal on her cellphone, however whereas she’s ready there, everybody else begins to ask, ‘Can I purchase the poster?’ I say, ‘No, I believe this woman goes to purchase it.’ However then, this different woman goes, ‘Nicely, I’ve money, and I’ll pay extra for it!’ She began an actual bidding struggle.”
Sriram saved her phrase and offered the final poster to the primary woman. She’s variety and doesn’t prefer to encourage competitors between followers, however the filmmaker received’t be settling when she lastly sells “Fucktoys.” Braiding deplorable and fascinating right into a viciously enjoyable driving crop, the actress wrote her film’s outrageous script in 2017. The story attracts from Sriram’s actual experiences being a part of the kink group, and the rising cult hit made greater than $1,000 simply promoting the merch in a single suitcase.
Fantasia is the 14th movie pageant to program Sriram’s sexploitation flick after its buzzy world premiere at SXSW in March, the place she received the Particular Jury Award for a Multi-Hyphenate, particularly created for this movie. Government producer Tim Petryni advised IndieWire that a number of firms have expressed curiosity in distributing “Fucktoys,” however that Sriram has but to discipline a proposal she needed to take.
“I’d by no means let a consumer discuss down my price,” she stated. “Why would I let a distributor?”
Sriram is among the many extra memorable artists crawling the indie movie circuit this summer season, and joyful horniness is essential to appreciating her work as an event-worthy and infectious model. The director wore her character’s sneakers to the Fantasia displaying, which was filled with as many drooling French-Canadian males because it was nonbinary babes and cute queer girls.
The actress lay down on the crimson carpet in Quebec and inadvertently made photographer Charles-Antoine Marcotte blush when she acquired on her knees to pose.
“You possibly can by no means anticipate these moments to occur,” Marcotte wrote to IndieWire in a translated textual content message. “We had further time, and Annapurna gave it her every little thing!”
Sriram didn’t know what a “style” film was earlier than she began bringing “Fucktoys” to occasions like Fantasia Fest. Extra typically related to science fiction, fantasy, or horror, that kind of extremely trendy filmmaking is increasing its definition quickly. The overwhelming success of Sriram’s in-person appearances, which commonly promote out, may be sufficient to kick off a mini theatrical resurgence for smut.
“This movie has taken eight years, to not point out cash, blood, sweat, and tears,” stated Sriram, who within the first scene additionally directed herself pretending to piss on a person. “The title ‘Fucktoys’ began off as a joke, and after I was attempting to finance the movie, I obtained so many notes that have been simply censorship notes, all telling me, ‘You may’t do that!’ or ‘You may’t try this!’”
She added, “There’s one thing to be stated for reclaiming that have and declaring what’s actually taking place there. You’re attempting to censor me as an artist since you’re afraid of me as a girl, and then you definately’re not taking me severely as a director since you don’t respect me as a girl. They need it each methods.”
Sriram is a theater child who spent a lot of her appearing profession off-Broadway and showing on the West Finish. As a half-white, half-Indian performer, she was repeatedly typecast in disempowering roles however yearned to play “a liberated intercourse pot who was brown.”
“I didn’t know I used to be totally different till I turned an actor,” she stated. “Half of my household is from New England, however I even have these Tennessee roots, and I don’t have a powerful reference to my dad’s nation by any means. It was after I turned an actor that I used to be abruptly confronted with casting administrators who needed to place me in a headband. They’d say, ‘You’re the physician.’ ‘You’re the nurse.’ ‘You’re the woman whose dad and mom need her to get an organized marriage.’ However that has by no means ever been me.”
In fact, Sriram wasn’t raised on a budget psychic readings and scatological play you see in “Fucktoys” both. As a substitute, that grimy-girly POV comes from her liberation in younger maturity, honoring centuries of girls who’ve modified the world by merely doing what they need.
Sriram met her BDSM instructor and eventual “Fucktoys” intimacy coordinator, Olivia Troy, whereas researching for a special film function in New York. That challenge fell aside, and Sriram lives in Los Angeles now. The collaborators stay buddies — and apart from, you possibly can’t unlearn how you can fist somebody. Gleefully recounting a lubrication hack she discovered from Troy (if you happen to don’t have your skilled BDSM gear, you should utilize… the plastic bag from a lodge waste bin?), Sriram wouldn’t need to.
“It felt like I had discovered this secret world, or possibly a double life, the place I used to be having this tremendous dynamic and full sexual expertise that was actually letting me discover myself, however the trade couldn’t see or solid me that method,” she stated. “Disgrace is essentially the most ineffective feeling. It’s this man-made factor that was designed to oppress girls and trans individuals, actually supposed to make them worry God. However I’ve met so many straight males with very particular BDSM kinks and a lot disgrace that they’re carrying, and it’s deeply unhappy for all
of us to really feel that method. Assume how comfortable we may very well be if we stopped giving a fuck what everyone else was doing and had enjoyable.”
The evening after the “Fucktoys” screening in Montreal, at McKibbin’s Irish Pub (Fantasia’s favourite watering gap), Sriram satisfied a publicist to role-play “filmmaker and financier” along with her on the desk. Later that evening, when a shy younger lady approached Sriram to say she was fairly, the director stopped her and stated, “OK, however you are essentially the most stunning lady on this bar!”
“While you’re round a whole lot of sizzling, highly effective, humorous, sensible, attractive women, and also you cope with these shitty males collectively, you notice these are your fucking individuals,” Sriram stated. “I’m an enormous fan of catcalling women as a result of I’m an enormous fan of women. I take a look at the ladies who come to see my film, and I’m in awe. I’m simply an enormous fan of you, and I imagine that we now have an viewers that wishes to go see this movie in theaters.”
Introducing “Fucktoys” with an open invitation for Fantasia to “get attractive,” Sriram is a pure match for the midnight film area. The movie’s aesthetic is a part of a bubblegum heritage she imagined for herself as a younger queer lady, and sharing that inside world with an viewers each amplifies and softens the fantasy wasteland she made.
“Consider Trashtown like a goodwill within the south, or your grandma’s home,” Sriram stated, describing a type of frayed femininity. “It’s all of the kitschy shit that she used to gather, plus the plastic toys she left sitting out within the solar, plus a bit of that ‘Umbrellas of Cherbourg’ really feel. It’s monochromatic pops of coloration and rewriting historical past a bit bit. What if it’s the ’60s, however I’m Brigitte Bardot?”
Sriram didn’t plan to direct or star in her debut function at first, however a restricted funds — and the promise of a carefree filmmaker who couldn’t make herself uncomfortable with excessive asks — made “Fucktoys” absolutely hers. Constant crowds and powerful word-of-mouth have saved Sriram touring to screenings for months. Within the Czech Republic, she met a gaggle of highschool women who snuck out to see her film after 3 a.m.
“I used to be like, ‘The place do your dad and mom assume you’re?’ They usually’re like, ‘Oh, we stated we have been having a sleepover,’” stated Sriram. “Instantly, I used to be identical to, ‘Go to movie college. Please. Please. Go to movie college. We want extra feminine filmmakers.’”
With influences working down the American East Coast and deep into the South, Sriram will get in comparison with the legendary John Waters typically. The Pope of Trash met the ingenue filmmaker at a “Fucktoys” screening in Provincetown earlier this yr. That’s one other testomony to her attain and a cause to hope the fitting firm (or particular person) will again Sriram’s blossoming group at this crucial time for ladies.
“First, I used to be crying. Then, I used to be attempting to speak to him about ‘Polyester.’ Then, I believe I blacked out,” Sriram stated. “I keep in mind I gave him a poster.”
Again at Fantasia Fest, a number of distributors advised IndieWire they have been stunned “Fucktoys” hadn’t discovered a house but, however additionally they stated Sriram confronted an uphill battle due to the title — partly impressed by the time period “fuckboy.” Sriram sees energy in conserving the identify as a “controversial dialog piece,” and it didn’t forestall her from getting a Particular Jury Point out within the New Flesh Competitors for Greatest First Function at Fantasia.
Nonetheless, Sriram is aware of greater than most what it’s prefer to be misjudged, and he or she’s decided to get her playfully subversive film to the “actual ones” who need it. For “Fucktoys,” the pageant course of has been so much like courting. At Fantasia, the unexpectedly romantic film made Sriram’s whole auditorium really feel like church. The filmmaker isn’t listening to distro wedding ceremony bells but, however she has religion that real love is on the market.
“As a girl, the minute you stroll out into the world, everybody goes to challenge one thing onto you,” she stated. “I would like girls to really feel empowered. That’s my solely agenda. I’m a woman’s woman who needs girls to really feel stunning, secure, and comfortable, as a result of we’re so susceptible to so many assaults proper now. I lacked confidence for therefore lengthy, and I used to be burdened with all this internalized misogyny. However you set your self free if you cease self-policing.
“You set your self free if you cease asking, ‘Am I allowed to decorate like that?’ ‘Ought to I be speaking like that?’ ‘Ought to I be sexualizing myself as a critical director like that?’” she stated. “As a substitute, you say, ‘Fuck you. That is my life ceaselessly.’ And we select to guard one another — as a result of we’re sizzling women, and Trashtown is all we’ve acquired.”
“Fucktoys” final screened at Fantasia Fest 2025. Right here’s the place you possibly can see it in August:
- Glints’ Rhode Island Worldwide Movie Pageant — Windfall, RI
- Thursday, August 7 at 3:15 p.m. ET within the Windfall Showcase Cinema
- Atlanta Underground Movie Pageant — Atlanta, GA
- Saturday, August 9 at 6:30 p.m. ET within the Limelight Theater
- Popcorn Frights Movie Pageant — Hollywood, FL
- Thursday, August 14 at 9 p.m. ET at Cinema Paradiso
- Reel Queer Movie Pageant — Little Rock, AR
- Friday, August 22 at 7 p.m. ET within the Ron Robinson Theater
- Baton Rouge Underground Movie Pageant — Baton Rouge, LA
- Saturday, August 23 at 7:30 p.m. CT within the Manship Theater
- Sidewalk Movie Pageant — Birmingham, AL
- Saturday, August 23 at 9:45 p.m. CT within the Lyric Theater