Omi, a Jewish exorcism comedy directed by Emily Lerer, will premiere at the Austin Film Festival on Oct. 30. The screening carries added significance as the final film appearance by Bunny Levine, who died Aug. 20 at her Tarzana, California, home at age 97.

The feature is Lerer’s directorial debut. Adam Lebowitz-Lockard wrote the film and stars alongside Dree Hemingway. Those few confirmed details establish a notably specific proposition: a debut filmmaker working in a horror-comedy framework, with an exorcism story rooted in Jewish identity and a cast led by the project’s writer.

A festival premiere with a lasting final-credit significance

“Final film appearance” is a precise description, and it matters beyond the usual festival-premiere framing. Levine’s work in Omi will stand as the final screen role in her filmography. For audiences at the Austin screening, that changes the texture of the event without requiring the movie itself to be reduced to a memorial.

The film remains, first and foremost, a new feature arriving before viewers have had the chance to define it for themselves. But Levine’s presence gives its premiere a second layer: it is both an introduction to Lerer’s first feature as a director and the closing film chapter for a performer who died shortly before the screening.

That duality can be particularly meaningful at a festival, where films are often encountered in a concentrated communal setting rather than alone and on demand. A premiere is the first public presentation of a completed movie; it is not automatically a broad release, a review verdict, or a guarantee of future distribution. What is confirmed here is the Oct. 30 festival debut, not additional release plans.

What “Jewish exorcism comedy” tells us — and what it does not

The description of Omi as a Jewish exorcism comedy gives the film a genre identity without spelling out its plot mechanics, characters, or supernatural rules. An exorcism, in broad storytelling terms, concerns an attempt to expel or confront an unwanted spiritual presence. Horror narratives use that setup for fear and ritual; comedy can use it for escalating misunderstandings, tonal contrast, personality clashes, or the complications of taking an impossible problem seriously.

The word Jewish is important because it suggests that the movie’s cultural and religious frame is part of its premise rather than a decorative detail. Still, viewers should not fill in missing specifics: no story synopsis, character descriptions, or account of the particular customs depicted has been provided. It would be premature to assume the film follows any familiar exorcism formula or that it resembles a particular horror-comedy.

That restraint is worth keeping. Genre labels can be useful shorthand, but they are not substitutes for a logline. In this case, “Jewish exorcism comedy” identifies a distinctive lane while leaving the actual narrative encounter for the festival premiere.

For readers drawn to seasonal comedy with an unmistakably costume-and-pop-culture bent, Joking Joystick has also covered Elmo’s Halloween turn as Miranda Priestly. Omi is a separate project and should not be conflated with that playful Halloween story, but its exorcism-comedy premise arrives in similarly spooky-season-friendly territory.

Emily Lerer’s feature directing debut

A feature directorial debut means Omi is Lerer’s first full-length film as director. That designation does not reveal the filmmaker’s prior work or production history, and it should not be read as a measure of experience outside feature directing. It simply marks this movie as a first feature-length directing credit.

Debut features are often watched closely because they introduce a director’s approach at the scale of a complete film: tone, pacing, performance direction, visual decision-making, and the handling of a story from opening setup through resolution. In the case of Omi, the available information makes tone especially central. Combining the potentially frightening stakes of possession or spiritual confrontation with comedy requires the film to decide when tension should build and when it should break.

That does not mean a genre blend must divide its elements evenly. A horror comedy can be primarily comedic with supernatural interruptions, primarily eerie with comic release valves, or something that shifts between the two. Nothing currently available establishes where Omi lands on that spectrum. The Austin premiere will be the first opportunity for festival audiences to encounter Lerer’s full feature-length balance.

Adam Lebowitz-Lockard writes and stars

Lebowitz-Lockard’s role as both writer and star puts one of the movie’s central creative voices in front of the camera as well as behind the screenplay. A screenwriter shapes the written blueprint for a film: its scenes, dialogue, story structure, and character arcs. Acting in that material can create a close connection between the role and the script’s original intent, though it does not by itself tell audiences how much of the story centers on that character.

Dree Hemingway co-stars, joining Lebowitz-Lockard and Levine in the announced cast. Beyond those names, there is no confirmed casting breakdown in the supplied information, so it is best not to speculate about character relationships, billing order beyond the stated starring roles, or each performer’s share of the narrative.

The combination of a writer-star, a first-time feature director, and a veteran performer’s final screen appearance gives Omi several different points of interest. None needs to eclipse the others. The premiere may be an important farewell for Levine, but it is also a professional milestone for Lerer and a showcase for a script performed in part by its writer.

What audiences can take from the confirmed details

  • Premiere date: Omi is scheduled to premiere at the Austin Film Festival on Oct. 30.
  • Genre: It is described as a Jewish exorcism comedy.
  • Director: Emily Lerer makes her feature directorial debut with the film.
  • Writer and cast: Adam Lebowitz-Lockard wrote the feature and stars in it with Dree Hemingway.
  • Bunny Levine: The movie is Levine’s final film appearance; she died Aug. 20 at age 97.

There is a trailer for the film, but the available material does not provide a link or additional verified plot information from it. Until the premiere, the most accurate picture is also the simplest one: Omi is an upcoming genre feature with a culturally specific supernatural-comedy premise, a first-time feature director, and an especially poignant final performance from Bunny Levine.