WHAT BREAKS THE ICE centers on two teenage girls who come from different worlds, but strike up a quick and deep friendship during summer break in 1998, set against the backdrop of a world consumed by the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Their fun and carefree days quickly turn cold as they find themselves at the center of a murder that rocks a nostalgic East Coast summer getaway.
Rebecca Eskreis' work has screened at numerous international festivals, including SXSW, Toronto, Seattle, deadCenter, Savannah, Munich, Stockholm and Thessaloniki. Her directorial debut project, WHAT BREAKS THE ICE (Goldcrest Films), received the Sandra Adair/Empowering a Billion Women Grant for promising female filmmakers from the Austin Film Society, and was selected for the Austin Film Society’s Artist Intensive, hosted annually by Richard Linklater. The project was also a finalist for the 2016 Mayor’s Office of New York/Women in Film/Producers Guild Financing Lab. WHAT BREAKS THE ICE stars Sofia Hublitz and Madelyn Cline, and premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival in October 2020 as part of a drive-in double feature with AMMONITE.
Mentored by the late Jonathan Demme, Eskreis previously worked as a producer at his company, Clinica Estetico, following stints at 72 Productions, Red Hour Films and Di Novi Pictures, where she was the creative executive. She’s served as a panelist at numerous film festivals and, most recently, participated in NYWIFT “From Script to Pre-Production” lecture series. Prior to earning her MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Eskreis worked as producer and director for Forbes.com's video network. She also holds a BA, Magna Cum Laude, from Barnard College at Columbia University.
