The Frontier

United States • 2015

Filmed in the California desert on Super 16mm, The Frontier weaves elements of classic noir, American western, and the hard-boiled paperbacks of the 50s to create a timeless world within which the film's colorful characters roam. Shadowy, textured, and wonderfully lush, The Frontier looks like it popped out of the front cover of a gritty paperback novel. A female drifter (Jocelin Donahue, The House of the Devil) discovers a violent gang of thieves at a desert motel run by a mysterious woman (Kelly Lynch, Drugstore Cowboy) and hatches a plan to escape with their stolen cash. This riveting neo-noir keeps viewers guessing to the last exhilarating shot.

Oren Shai
Oren Shai, Webb Wilcoxen
Jocelin Donahue, Kelly Lynch, Jim Beaver, Izabella Miko, Jamie Harris, Liam Aiken, AJ Bowen

Director
Writers
Starring

96 minutes
English
Color
1.85:1
5.1

Runtime
Language
Color
Format
Sound

"A timeless pulp world, one that purloins from 30s seedy gangsters, 50s greasers, and 70s slick crime. Add up all those eras, and you get something close to the stylized 1990s neo-noir of Red Rock West, where the dust on the ground is just there to soak up the blood."

Richard Whittaker
The Austin Chronicle
The Frontier is Ms. Donahue’s movie all the way, but between the supporting cast, the nastily amusing screenplay, and the endless double-crossings and back-stabbings, there are simply a lot of enjoyable facets to be found in this crafty little wise-assed neo-noir thriller."

Scott Weinberg
Nerdist
"Filmed in lusciously grainy 16mm, Oren Shai’s feature debut bursts with color."

Stephen Saito
The Moveable Fest

BLU-RAY

DETAILS

Region A Blu-ray

Audio Commentary with writer/director Oren Shai and co-writer Webb Wilcoxen, moderated by Eric Kane (2016)
Interviews with actors Jocelin Donahue, AJ Bowen and Jim Beaver (2016)
8mm behind-the-scenes footage by Elric Kane (2016)
Interview with composer Ali Helnwein (2026)
Interview with cinematographer Jay Keitel (2026)
Interview with screenwriter Webb Wilcoxen (2026)
Discussion between director Oren Shai and producer Dana Lustig (2026)
“Condemned” - Oren Shai’s 2009 short film
“The Existential Motel” - essay by David N. Meyer
Theatrical Trailer
English SDH subtitles