Nadja

Michael Almereyda’s Nadja is a postmodern arthouse reimagining of the Dracula myth, set against the gritty backdrop of 1990s New York City. The film follows estranged vampire twins Nadja (Elina Löwensohn) and Edgar (a young Jared Harris) as they reunite after their father is killed by the flamboyantly unhinged Van Helsing, played with relish by Peter Fonda. Driven by the hope that their father’s death might free them from vampirism, Nadja steals his ashes and hatches a plan to heal her ailing brother.

Almereyda’s Nadja twists familiar characters from the classic novel — Lucy, her husband Jim (Martin Donovan), Cassandra (Suzy Amis), and the deranged Renfield — into a shadowy urban tableau. The film’s striking visual language combines crisp, high contrast black-and-white 35mm cinematography with the grainy, oneiric aesthetic of a Fisher-Price Pixelvision toy camcorder, inviting viewers into the fragmented interior world of its vampire protagonists.

A challenging production that was saved by financial support from David Lynch, Nadja reflects Almereyda’s daring, boundary-pushing style seen across his eclectic body of work — from the literary reinvention of Hamlet and offbeat biopics like Experimenter and Tesla to intimate documentaries exploring artists’ lives. In this nineties indie curio, which premiered at TIFF ’94, he captures the era’s irreverence, eroticism, and poetic melancholy in an atmospheric meditation on love and death.

ROBYN CITIZEN

The original Director’s Cut of Nadja was digitally restored by Arbelos and Grasshopper Film from the only extant element, the 35mm answer print. Laboratory services by OCN Labs, Five Seventy Films, Ben Gilbert Films, David Ferron and Blackhawk Films. Special thanks to Michael Almereyda and Absurda.