Garcia’s “The Lifeguard” Acquired by Focus World & Screen Media Films

It looks like Liz W. Garcia’s first feature film will be released in the United States. 

Focus World and Screen Media Films have partnered to acquire the U.S. distribution rights to the 35-year-old Latina filmmaker’s The Lifeguard, which made its debut at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Liz W. Garcia

Written and directed by Garcia, The Lifeguard marks her first feature after working as a writer and producer on television shows like Cold Case and co-creating Memphis Beat  with her husband Joshua Harto.

Kristen Bell stars alongside Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr and Amy Madigan in the film, which centers on Leigh (Bell), almost 30 and living a seemingly perfect life in New York. But when her career and love life both come crashing down, she flees to her suburban hometown and regresses back into high school life. Picking up right where her teen halcyon days left off, she moves into her old room with her parents, hangs out with friends who never left town and reclaims her high school job as a condo-complex lifeguard. But as Leigh enjoys shirking adult life and responsibilities and enters into an illicit affair, she begins a chain reaction that affects those closest to her.

The Lifeguard

Focus World, the alternative label owned and operated by Focus Features, and Screen Media will release The Lifeguard in theaters and on digital platforms in the summer.