'Briar Patch' Festival and Award Listings

Houston World Fest - Special Jury Prize - Suspense thriller
Taos Talking Pictures Festival - Official Selection - Land Grant Finalist
Atlanta Film Festival
Memphis Film Festival - Winner Best Narrative Feature
Denver Film Festival - Official Selection
Marco Island Film Festival

Press Quotes

"Solid performances all around and a sure hand with direction make Berman a talent to watch in the future."
- Rick Romancito, Arts & Entertainment, Taos News

"Audience favorites [at the Taos Film Festival] included .. Zev Berman's Briar Patch."
- IndieWire

"[Briar Patch's] twisted tale works well, thanks to a persuasive cast and strong characterizations."
- B.W., Houston Chronicle

"Shooting in North Carolina, director Zev Berman imbues Deborah Pryor's screenplay with a haunting sense of dread. You can almost smell the physical and moral decay.""
- B.W., Houston Chronicle

"[Briar Patch] is Swain's film, and she carries it as a fiery backwoods child-woman with guts, gumption, and cunning."
- B.W., Houston Chronicle

"Henry Thomas' Edgar is a fine performance. This kid isn't Elliot anymore - he's grown up to be quite the actor. At times scary and soft, Edgar is a complicated man, and when he leaves the picture about halfway through, he is missed." - "Ain't it Cool News"

"In the main competition, the winner for Best Narrative Feature was director Zev Berman's Briar Patch, a sweaty, swampy sour mash mixture of James M. Cain, Baby Doll, Erskine Caldwell and such drive-in pictures as Shanty Tramp and Louisiana Hussy."
- John Beifus, Go Memphis

"The character [of] Flowers looks like the worst white trash perpetrator you have ever seen on Cops, times two. In fact, Irish actor Arie Verveen slept in his truck for the entire 21 days of filming to help him look the part.
- Denver's The Metropolitan

"The most intriguing part of this film is the way the poor, uneducated characters express themselves with passionate, flowery words. The contrast of such beautiful words coming out of [the mouth's of] these dirty and strange characters has a very cool effect, much like the intelligent conversations [between] the low lifes in [Tarantino's] Pulp Fiction. The dialogue, coupled with the strong acting performances of Swain, Thomas and Verveen, make Briar Patch an enjoyable film.
- Denver's The Metropolitan

Submitted By Zev Berman