The Cinema Toast anthology series is a post-modernist reinvention of older movies from Showtime

SHOWTIME has announced that the new anthology series Cinema Toast will premiere all 10 episodes on the SHOWTIME on-demand streaming and partner platforms on Tuesday, April 20. Created by Jeff Baena and produced by the Duplass Brothers, CINEMA TOAST is a post-modernist reinvention of older movies that turns pre-existing imagery from the public domain on its head to tell brand new unique stories. Directors include Baena, Jay Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Alex Ross Perry, Marta Cunningham, Aubrey Plaza, Numa Perrier, Jordan Firstman, Kris Rey and David Lowery. The episodes are voiced by actors including Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Fred Armisen, John Early, Christina Ricci, Megan Mullally, Chloe Fineman and Chris Meloni.

“When the pandemic first hit and all paths to traditional production seemed unlikely at best, I racked my brain to find a way to still create,” said Baena. “That’s when the idea hit me to re-dub and re-shape old material into something transcendent that extends beyond just a comedic curio.”

CINEMA TOAST offers a wide range of stories spanning genres including drama, horror and comedy. Plaza’s psychological thriller “Quiet Illness” pieces together footage of Loretta Young to create a portrait of an emotionally tortured modern woman, while Cunningham’s “Attack of the Karens” shows just how timely the classic Night of the Living Dead is when re-contextualized within this last year in America. In “After the End,” Eslyn injects the beloved monster movie Beast From Haunted Cave with a mumblecore comedy sensibility. And with “Report on the Canine Auto-Mechanical Soviet Threat,” Perry creates a surreal journey from Soviet rarities about a young boy who is immersed in a new reality inhabited by talking cars and telepathic dogs.

CINEMA TOAST is produced by Duplass Brothers Productions. The series is executive produced by Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Jeff Baena and Tyler Romary. Shuli Harel also serves as producer.