Kicking off the year with a surprise Sundance win , Hailey Gates ’ debut feature Atropia is now lined up in competition at Tokyo International Film Festival. Satirizing the military, the media and the movie business, the film veers from the surreal to moments of slapstick as it portrays the world of a training facility to prepare troops for deployment to unfamiliar countries and cultures.

“The initial idea came when I was trying to make a documentary,” Gates explains to The Hollywood Reporter in an interview during the festival. “I was spending time ingratiating myself with the Department of Defense — now the Department of War — but the way I wanted to film wasn’t going to be possible. So, I thought I’d make a MAS*H-style film instead.”

Kicking off the year with a surprise S

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