Sundance 2026 may be in full swing, but the best of the 2025 festival is finally making its theatrical debut. Releasing in theaters nationwide last Friday is Atropia, a satirical indie comedy from director Hailey Benton Gates. Winner of Sundance’s U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Drama [2025], Atropia is a kooky comedy that infuses humor that is as dry as the titular fake Middle Eastern desert.

Welcome to Atropia

Imagine The Truman Show set in fake Iraqi and Afghan villages, and you’ll have a sense of the world of Atropia. This town, situated in the middle of the desert in Barstow, California, is home to the most sophisticated urban warfare simulation: Fort Irwin. Built by Hollywood set designers, Atropia is the closest one can get to the feeling of being in the Middle East without leaving the United States. To adequately prepare soldiers for deployment overseas, troops enter a 3-week immersion training program that can also be described as a 24/7 military role-play scenario. Complete with realistic battlefield situations and hired professionals acting as villagers, Atropia sets out to, and successfully creates, an uncanny sense of “authenticity.”

Fayruz (Alia Shawkat) is an aspiring actress who takes her job as a villager very seriously. Despite being miles away from Hollywood, she dreams of catching her big break on the set of Atropia. It doesn’t matter if she’s drowning in a hijab or screaming in the streets; she gives every performance her all. As dedicated as she is to her profession, she risks derailing her performance when she falls in love with Abu Dice (Callum Turner), a fellow actor cast as an insurgent. Fayruz learns quickly that love is a battlefield, and if she’s not careful, her heart could wind up in pieces.

Artistry on the Front Lines

Filmmaker Hailey Benton Gates does a phenomenal job creating the bizarre world of Atropia. While we can laugh at some of the ridiculous elements of this make-believe town, the film itself never feels like a joke or that it lacks the serious nature of its content. Alia Shawkat and Callum Turner perfectly embody their roles, both bringing a grounded sense of humor and emotional grit to their characters. The supporting cast further aids this performance-focused film, with special appearances by Tim Heidecker, Chloë Sevigny, Lola Kirke, and Channing Tatum.

Director’s Statement

“Atropia is the story of a real fake place. After 9/11, the U.S. government lured Hollywood with lucrative contracts to construct fake Iraqi and Afghan village sets on military bases across America. These hyper-realistic villages, designed to train soldiers before deployment, are populated by civilian role players hired to live and act in the towns for weeks at a time. Initially, I set out to make a documentary about the mock villages–how this dystopian community theater was blurring lines between training and performance, reality and artifice. I spent years interviewing role players and military personnel, but eventually, the Department of Defense would not grant access to the parts of the training I was interested in documenting. So I decided to write a satire instead! A comedy in the tradition of Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H and Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not To Be.

[Alia] Shawkat was just as obsessed with this world as I was. Her only stipulation…that it be a romance. We met our match in the deeply talented and generous Callum Turner, who somehow made this military-industrial-screwball-romance all make sense. The film is many things: a love story, a satire, and a commentary on the strange intersection of theater, war, and humanity, but ultimately, I hope it’s a ‘movie movie’.”

Takeaway

A unique blend of comedy and social commentary, it’s no surprise that this indie darling won over crowds at Sundance. Atropia is a fresh take on an obscure but very real government program that, at times, seems too silly to be true. The energy in front of the camera and behind the scenes is palpable, keeping the audience engaged and making for a very fun watch.