The Scene Drift

Following its recent premiere screening in New York & LA, director Izabel Pakzad sat down to unpack the delicate balancing act behind her feature directorial debut, Find Your Friends. What initially presents itself as a sun-drenched, influencer-fueled getaway down to the California desert gradually devolves into a neon-soaked, high-wire survival nightmare. From its opening frames, the film intentionally leans into modern party aesthetics and social media culture before systematically ripping the rug out from underneath the audience. A key element of that crucial early energy comes from Euphoria breakout star Chloe Cherry, who brings a sharp, subversively funny rhythm to the ensemble before the narrative takes its dark turn.

Pakzad recalls that when they first arrived on set, she realized immediately that Cherry possessed a rare, instinctual comedic timing that needed to be highlighted. "I was like, 'Oh my god, she is comedy gold.' She’s like a genius," Pakzad says, noting that Cherry brought an unapologetic, completely fearless energy to her performance. "She brings all the energy, she’s unapologetic about it... I ended up giving her a lot more lines and changing stuff because I was like, 'You are the comedic relief in this film, and it’s actually so important to have it in this group of friends.'" That subtle levity makes the film’s eventual descent into horror all the more jarring. Rather than relying on traditional slasher dynamics where characters adhere to neat, artificial morality rules, Pakzad wanted her cast of young women to reflect the messy, loud, and unpredictable reality of modern group dynamics.

For Pakzad, challenging the traditional "Final Girl" trope meant pushing past the sanitized boundaries usually placed on female protagonists in genre cinema. "We see so many movies where they only go so far, or the characters only go so far, and it feels like there’s limits on it," Pakzad explains, reflecting on her motivation while drafting the screenplay. "I was like, 'What is the furthest they could possibly go?' and take it there." To translate that descent from an idyllic getaway into a hallucinatory, anxiety-inducing nightmare, she collaborated closely with Director of Photography Tim Curtin, opting for an intuitive, handheld camera style that shifts fluidly through distinct visual palettes.

The film's visual journey is meticulously structured: starting in warm, sun-baked Los Angeles daylight, dipping into saturated, "Molly-red" party hues heavily inspired by the neon aesthetics of Spring Breakers and Euphoria, and eventually settling into the stark, cold blue isolation of the desert night. Pakzad wanted the camera movement to feel subjective, pulling the viewer directly into the characters' altered states of mind. "I knew he would be able to nail that feeling that we're with the group of girls, we're with Amber, we're at this party, we're in the party, we're feeling the party," she says. During key set pieces, the cinematography actively reflects the characters' internal panic. "I love the Lensbaby in the scene at the concert when they're having fun, and Amber's loose, and suddenly she's turning around and things are blurry... all those little things we did made a huge impact on at least feeling this party turning sinister."

Beyond its stylistic flourishes, the central catalyst of the film’s highway tension stems from a deeply personal, harrowing incident Pakzad experienced on the Joshua Tree freeway years prior. Translating that real-life trauma onto the screen required a profound shift in focus, channeling raw personal fear into the technical discipline of filmmaking. "This whole movie started from that traumatizing incident on the Joshua Tree freeway," she reflects. "To do that scene... I was so happy because I was like, 'That's exactly what I wanted.' I really wanted to do it, and I knew it would be one of the harder things to do in this movie... I shifted and moved past the traumatizing event and I just honed in on the film. I was in that moment going, 'I just want to get this moment in the movie, I want to show people the fear I felt in that moment.'"

As Find Your Friends moves toward its explosive climax, it intentionally avoids tidy resolutions, heroic posturing, or comfortable morality, leaving the audience to navigate the chaotic aftermath alongside the characters.

By the time the girls are driving away in the final sequence, screaming into the open night air, the moment becomes an ambiguous expression of raw, unvarnished survival. "In the end when they're driving away and they're screaming, it's like a freedom. And you're not even supposed to be sure how you feel about the girls," Pakzad notes. "Like, are they perpetuating the cycle of violence? Are they villains? Are we on their side? It doesn't matter. Flipping the script is what matters."

Find Your Friends is currently streaming on Shudder and IFC Films.