It took $40,000, a 700 square-foot house, four months of rehearsals, years of preparation and a do-it-yourself spirit to make Aaron Strand’s standout feature-length debut “Withdrawal.”
Now the Georgia independent film is headed to its New York premiere.
“Withdrawal” will have its New York premiere at the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival on June 6, marking its first journey out of Georgia. The whirlwind film tells the story of Viv and Jay, and their romance, addiction and torment as they battle to survive a night of heroin withdrawal and start anew.
The film had its world premiere months ago at the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival, where it was an immediate standout among a lineup of local and international screenings. The festival had to add a second “encore” screening because the first sold out — and the film’s ending was met with a standing ovation for the cast and crew.
It’s a true Atlanta indie darling. Director Aaron Strand said he’s “reveling in the high” of finally getting to premiere in the movie. But he’s ready for the next challenge.
“Withdrawal” was shot in Athens, Ga., just 90 minutes outside of the city. The actors and crew were local to the Atlanta scene. They spent months preparing, cashing in favors and finding workarounds for expensive and difficult film expectations.
Strand wrote, directed and edited the film himself. It’s based in part on his own experiences with heroin addiction and recovery in Athens. As a young actor, he graduated from New York University in 2010 and began working at the exclusive venue The Box.
“But then life took a different turn, and I ended up being homeless in a few years because of addiction,” Strand said.
He came back to Georgia, got sober and tried to jump back into the acting industry. But his acting career didn’t take off. He had to decide: walk away from the industry or stick out the financial and personal woes?
“For better or for worse, I decided to stick with it,” Strand said.
He kicked off a decade of self-education and false starts. He wrote, shot and edited another feature film years ago — but couldn’t get it past the finish line.
“I didn’t know how to land the plane,” Strand said.
Without an ending, he couldn’t finish the film. It was never put into the world. Strand describes it as a failure and a major learning experience. It’s what pushed him to make “Withdrawal.”
“I knew that I could go forward in making this film because I felt very confident on a structural level about the ending that I wanted,” Strand said.
Strand felt good about the script. But actually making the film was another story. On a shoestring budget, he had to work within his limitations. He called in favors with friends and family and shot covertly on Athens streets. He used his mother-in-law’s house to shoot the majority of the film, wrecking it to show the main characters’ active addiction. He left it “pristine” at the end.
“That limitation can be an incredible spur of creativity,” Strand said.
In one graphic scene, a character is overcome with diarrhea, a common withdrawal symptom. She agonizes on the toilet while her partner vomits into it simultaneously. It was a major gross-out — Strand said several people walked out at the premiere.
But it doesn’t show any graphic content, just grotesque audio sounds. Laughing, Strand said he found the audio clip for free on a sound database. It was called “Taco Bell shits.”
It’s the sort of creativity that helped Strand make “Withdrawal” a reality. But the writer-director also credits his team’s work and creativity. Local actors Brent Michal and Millie Rose Evans carried the claustrophobic scenes of romance and addiction. Cinematographer Emily Marquet captured a nauseating but gorgeous landscape.
It’s a force of a film. “Withdrawal” is genre-spanning, playing like a romance, comedy and horror film at the same time. It takes viewers to the darkest depths, but it’s impossible to look away. And the team pulled it together for only $40,000.
The cash is a bigger budget than other Atlanta-made indie features, like “Meta Take One,” which was shot for under $5,000. But it’s still a microbudget film. Strand said he hasn’t made a dime from the film yet. He sank money into paying the cast and crew.
He knew that would be the case before making “Withdrawal.” Strand knows the Atlanta independent film scene, and he knows there’s little money in creating a fully independent feature. But he appreciates the challenge.
“Because we’re independent artists in Georgia, we have to figure everything out the hard way,” Strand said.
He’s grateful for a growing film community in the city and gives a lot of credit to long-standing institutions like the Plaza Theatre and the Tara Theatre, both locations for the Atlanta Film Festival. Chris Escobar runs the festival and both theatres. He also served as an executive producer on “Withdrawal.”
It’s a tight-knit group. Star Brent Michal works at the Plaza when he’s not acting. Millie Rose Evans premiered her short film “9 Lives” in an upstairs theater and is an Athens native. Rocco Shapiro, who runs Reel Friends production company in Atlanta, served as an associate producer.
The cast and crew are part of an orbit of locals who attend local screenings and join in on ATL Film Party. They frequent Videodrome and have undying loyalty to the Plaza Theatre. Many of them joined the Atlanta Film Festival, which Strand calls an “invitation” to broaden the small and scrappy film circle.
Strand met Michal through the film. He knew Rose Evans through her acting work. But the cast, crew and friends of the team all grew close through the “nourishing” work on “Withdrawal.” To Strand, that’s a testament to the passion for film in Atlanta — even if it’s an uphill battle.
“Everyone’s down to give themselves permission, and people are willing to work on your independent project,” Strand said. “And this is an amazing place to do that.”
As for Strand? He’s enjoying the film’s success but itching to get on the next project. And he’s ready to do it independently.
“I didn’t get to pay myself a cent, and yet I still have the compulsion to get back and do it again,” Strand said. “It’s an irresponsible decision, but it’s not a decision.”
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