Invention

Play trailer

1:56

Invention

Released Apr 18

1h 12m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

95%

Tomatometer

22 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

In the aftermath of a conspiracy-minded father's unexpected death, his daughter receives his patent for an experimental healing device. Featuring archive from actress Callie Hernandez's actual late father, INVENTION explores the process of grieving a complicated parent, and the filmmaking itself becomes a part of the process.

Dylan Huw

Sight & Sound

For all the improvisatory looseness of these interactions, the film is formally exacting, its organ-led soundtrack accentuating a thickly foreboding vision of a decaying, untrusting America.

Sep 30, 2025

Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

Here is a deeply strange but diverting indie experiment: a docu-fictional meditation on the nature of grief from director Courtney Stephens and her co-writer and lead performer Callie Hernandez.

Rated: 3/5

Sep 23, 2025

Full Review

Monica Castillo

RogerEbert.com

Stephens and cinematographer Rafael Palacio Illingworth give the world of “Invention” an appropriately somber color palette and painterly compositions, sometimes from the distance of a curious observer, to create a mournful tone.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 18, 2025

Full Review

Taylor Baker

Drink in the Movies

The handheld cinematography creates an intimate, secretive quality, as if we’re witnessing memories in the process of forming. This isn’t the polished grief of Hollywood but something rawer and more recognizable.

Rated: 67/100

Aug 20, 2025

Full Review

Payton McCarty-Simas

Film Inquiry

Invention is an airily shaggy, collaborative piece of improvised, genre-fluid auto-fiction.

Jun 26, 2025

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Stephens too mixes archival and new material, to equally probing if more playful effect.

Jun 7, 2025

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Courtney Stephens

Director

Callie Hernandez

Carrie Fernandez

Sahm McGlynn

Sham

Tony Torn

Tony

James N. Kienitz Wilkins

The Executor

Lucy Kaminsky

Babby

To Kill a Wolf

100%

%

To Kill a Wolf

Watchlist

TRAILER

for To Kill a Wolf

Black Bag

96%

70%

Black Bag

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Black Bag

Okie

91%

%

Okie

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Okie

Monster

97%

91%

Monster

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Monster

Ghost Trail

97%

%

Ghost Trail

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Ghost Trail

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Invention: Trailer 1

1:56

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

In the aftermath of a conspiracy-minded father's unexpected death, his daughter receives his patent for an experimental healing device. Featuring archive from actress Callie Hernandez's actual late father, INVENTION explores the process of grieving a complicated parent, and the filmmaking itself becomes a part of the process.

Director: Courtney Stephens
Producer: Courtney Stephens, Callie Hernandez
Screenwriter: Callie Hernandez, Courtney Stephens
Production Co: Neurotika Haus
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 18, 2025, Limited
Runtime: 1h 12m