A DARK, INTENSE, AND COMEDIC FEATURE FILM ABOUT A PODCAST RECORDING.
A podcast host pushes his cast into dark, uncomfortable territory, blurring the line between art and exploitation during an endless recording session.
”A film that never takes the easy way out. Takes risks and keeps you guessing. And it’s loud.” -Joel Potrykus
“Loved the turn near the end as it all unraveled, definitely had me leaning in and wanting more.” -Adam Sztykiel
Sydney (2025) is a film by Jeremy Berkowitz, now available to watch online on Amazon Prime, Plex, Tubi (soon), and more streaming platforms.
Sydney (2025): Autism, Masking, and Art as Survival: Medium Article
Director’s Statement
I’m best known for my award-winning short film Timmy and the Dreamkillers, which won First Prize for Short Animation at the Academy Award Qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival in 2019.
Sydney is my first feature film. It began as a concept for a scripted podcast in the summer of 2022 but was quickly transformed into a feature film about a podcast recording.
Comedy was subverted into madness, and it wasn’t long before a surreal nature inspired by filmmakers like David Lynch crept in.
The film has been called — unclassifiable — so I created a new genre for it called AUTOMETAPUNK.
This means — “a self referential artistic work created by alternative means, dealing with the creator’s own life.”
Sydney is intense, unsettling, sometimes comedic, and always building to it’s explosive reveal at the end.
Each character is taking on multiple personas, whether they know it or not.
Through my studies of screenwriting and filmmaking at the University of Michigan and New York University, I strive to reinvent structure and form any way I can.
This is how Sydney found her unbeaten path, blending fiction and reality.
-Jeremy Berkowitz
Get in touch.
I hope you enjoy the film or it impacts you in some way.
I’m always looking for new creative collaborators.
Feel free to reach out.
And keep on creating.