Adam Rehmeier: the indie filmmaker behind The Bunny Game and Dinner in America

Overview

Adam (Carter) Rehmeier is an American independent writer-director whose features run from one extreme to another: the banned, improvised horror film The Bunny Game (2011), the punk-rock comedy Dinner in America (2020) — which premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and found a second life on TikTok in 2024 — the semi-autobiographical teen comedy Snack Shack (2024), and the 2026 romantic crime thriller Carolina Caroline (PopMatters; The Playlist; Collider; Third Coast Review). He began his film career as a documentary camera operator before co-directing The Bunny Game with actress Rodleen Getsic (HollywoodChicago.com).

From the camera department to The Bunny Game

Rehmeier trained at Columbia College in Chicago and began working as a documentary camera operator, according to HollywoodChicago.com’s career summary of the director (HollywoodChicago.com). His feature debut was the horror film The Bunny Game (2011), which PopMatters identifies as the start of his directing filmography, followed by Jonas (2013) and his produced-and-edited documentary Land Grab (2016) (PopMatters). Bloody Disgusting’s review reports that Rehmeier and lead actress Rodleen Getsic set out in 2008 with no crew and no script — Rehmeier forming a one-man crew to shoot Getsic and non-actor Jeff Renfro over thirteen days in Hollywood and a nearby desert, with the single condition that “anything goes” (Bloody Disgusting). When the British Board of Film Classification refused the film a certificate for UK video release, Rehmeier told Bloody Disgusting he found The Bunny Game “way less disturbing than ‘Pretty Woman’” and called it a modern cautionary tale grounded in reality rather than an erotic film (Bloody Disgusting). The film went on to take the 2011 PollyGrind Film Festival’s top jury prize — “The Biggest Baddest Mother of the PollyGrind” — plus awards for sound design, cinematography and editing (Dread Central).

Dinner in America: Sundance to TikTok

Dinner in America was Rehmeier’s breakthrough. The Playlist’s report on the Sundance 2020 lineup placed the film in the U.S. Dramatic Competition as a world premiere, crediting Rehmeier as both director and screenwriter alongside producers Ben Stiller, Nicholas Weinstock, David Hunter, Ross Putman, John Covert and Sam Slater, with Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Pat Healy, Griffin Gluck, Lea Thompson and Mary Lynn Rajskub in the cast (The Playlist). Rehmeier also edited the film himself, part of his insistence on staying involved “from the first frame to the last” (PopMatters). Years after its pandemic-era release, the film found its audience: Rehmeier told Third Coast Review that the song “Watermelon” went nuclear viral, claiming over two billion TikTok impressions and 140 million Spotify streams — figures that, taken at face value, mean the film was distributed by its own fans rather than the distributors who had passed on it (Third Coast Review). Rehmeier, Gallner and Skeggs then took the film on a road show of sold-out screenings, including at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre (Third Coast Review).

Snack Shack and Carolina Caroline

Rehmeier’s 2024 feature Snack Shack followed best friends A.J. (Conor Sherry) and Moose (Gabriel LaBelle) through a 1991 Nebraska summer running a swimming pool’s snack shack, with Mika Abdalla, Nick Robinson and David Costabile in support. Collider reports the film drew heavily on Rehmeier’s own teenage years — dog-track gambling, a home beer-brewing operation, and the real-life summer he and his best friend ran the snack shack — with the director calling it “a meditation on my childhood” (Collider). It opened theatrically on March 15, 2024 (Collider). He followed it with Carolina Caroline, a romantic crime thriller written by Tom Dean and starring Samara Weaving as a Texas gas station attendant, Kyle Gallner as the conman she runs off with, and Kyra Sedgwick as the mother she hopes to find — a film that reached theaters in June 2026 after a Toronto Film Festival debut (Third Coast Review; HollywoodChicago.com). Rehmeier told Third Coast Review his next film was already shot and in post-production — “a hardcore genre film” — a project with no announced title or release date (Third Coast Review).

Filmography

Film	Year	Rehmeier’s roles	Note
The Bunny Game	2008 (shot) / 2011 (release)	Co-director, cinematographer, editor	UK video release refused by the BBFC; PollyGrind top prize 2011
Jonas	2013	Writer-director	Parable about a man delivering a message across Los Angeles (PopMatters)
Land Grab	2016	Producer, editor	Documentary on an urban-farming bid in Detroit (PopMatters)
Dinner in America	2020	Writer, director, editor	Sundance 2020 U.S. Dramatic Competition; TikTok cult revival 2024
Snack Shack	2024	Writer, director	Semi-autobiographical 1991 Nebraska comedy; theatrical March 15, 2024
Carolina Caroline	2026	Director	Written by Tom Dean; theatrical June 2026

Frequently asked questions

What is Adam Rehmeier known for? Rehmeier is an American independent writer-director known for the banned improvised horror film The Bunny Game (2011), the Sundance-premiering punk comedy Dinner in America (2020) — which became a TikTok-driven cult hit in 2024 — the autobiographical teen comedy Snack Shack (2024), and the 2026 crime romance Carolina Caroline. He began as a documentary camera operator.

Why is he sometimes credited as “Adam Carter Rehmeier”? Early coverage, including The Playlist’s 2019 Sundance lineup announcement, credits him as “Adam Rehmeier,” while 2026 coverage of Carolina Caroline credits “Adam Carter Rehmeier.” The sources describe the same filmmaker; this profile uses both forms where the sources do.

Why was The Bunny Game banned in the UK? The British Board of Film Classification refused the film a certificate for video release, with director David Cooke stating that issuing one — even for adults — would be inconsistent with the Board’s guidelines and risked potential harm under the Video Recordings Act. Bloody Disgusting reported the refusal and Trinity X’s planned UK release in 2011.

Did Rehmeier really say The Bunny Game is less disturbing than Pretty Woman? Yes — responding to the BBFC rejection in an exclusive statement to Bloody Disgusting, Rehmeier said he found The Bunny Game “way less disturbing than ‘Pretty Woman’,” arguing it is more socially acceptable to glamorize prostitution as a rags-to-riches fairy tale. He insisted he and Getsic did not make the film to glamorize prostitution, calling it a modern cautionary tale.

How did Dinner in America become a cult film? After a muted pandemic-era release, the film’s song “Watermelon” went viral on TikTok in 2024. Rehmeier told Third Coast Review the song drew over two billion TikTok impressions and 140 million Spotify streams; he, Kyle Gallner and Emily Skeggs then took the film on a road show of sold-out screenings, including Chicago’s Music Box Theatre.

Timeline

• 2008 — Rehmeier and Rodleen Getsic shoot The Bunny Game over 13 days with a one-man crew and no script (Bloody Disgusting review).
• 2011 — The Bunny Game wins the top jury prize plus sound, cinematography and editing awards at the PollyGrind Film Festival (Dread Central); the BBFC refuses it a UK video certificate (Bloody Disgusting).
• 2012 — Autonomy Pictures releases the film in the US on DVD and Blu-ray in July, after a UK release (Bloody Disgusting).
• 2013 — Jonas is released (PopMatters).
• 2016 — Rehmeier produces and edits the documentary Land Grab (PopMatters).
• 2020 — Dinner in America world-premieres in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance (The Playlist).
• 2024-03-15 — Snack Shack opens theatrically (Collider).
• 2024 — Dinner in America is rediscovered on TikTok; Rehmeier reports 2B+ TikTok impressions and 140M Spotify streams for “Watermelon” and mounts sold-out revival screenings (Third Coast Review).
• 2026-06 — Carolina Caroline opens in theaters (HollywoodChicago.com; Third Coast Review).

What this profile does not claim

• It does not assert Rehmeier’s date or place of birth — directory sources vary and none were read in full.
• It does not assert a formal Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic nomination; it asserts only the verified U.S. Dramatic Competition slot at Sundance 2020.
• It takes no position on the evaluative debate over The Bunny Game’s methods or message; it reports what the cited reviews and the filmmakers themselves said.
• The TikTok/Spotify figures are Rehmeier’s own account, attributed as such, not independently audited numbers.
• The “next film” after Carolina Caroline is mentioned only as an untitled, unreleased project Rehmeier described in a 2026 interview; no title or date is asserted.

What we could not verify

• Date of birth: directory listings (IMDb, Moviefone) agree on August 5, 1976 and Nebraska City, Nebraska, but directories were deliberately not cited, so no DOB is asserted.
• Whether Dinner in America was formally listed as a Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic nominee — the competition placement is verified, the nomination wording is not.
• The precise year to attach to The Bunny Game: sources split between the 2008 shoot and a 2010/2011 release; this profile shows both.
• The specific titles and dates of Rehmeier’s camera-department credits — only the general career fact (documentary camera operator) was sourced.

Sources

• PopMatters — Director Adam Rehmeier on His Abrasive Punk Comedy with a Sweet Heart, ‘Dinner in America’ (tier2; filmography and direct interview)
• Bloody Disgusting — ‘The Bunny Game’ Becomes Latest Victim Of BBFC Censorship (tier2; BBFC refusal and Rehmeier’s Pretty Woman statement)
• Bloody Disgusting — [BD Review] ‘The Bunny Game’ Doesn’t Play Nice (tier2; production facts)
• Bloody Disgusting — Autonomy Pictures Comes Out Playing ‘The Bunny Game’ (tier2; US/UK release history)
• Dread Central — Exclusive: Second Annual PollyGrind Film Festival Announces Winners (tier2; 2011 PollyGrind jury awards)
• The Playlist — Sundance 2020 Lineup Revealed (tier2; U.S. Dramatic Competition placement)
• Collider — ‘Snack Shack’ Arrives on Digital Platforms Tomorrow (tier2; Snack Shack release and autobiographical basis)
• Third Coast Review — Interview: Filmmaker Adam Carter Rehmeier on Creating Carolina Caroline (tier3; Carolina Caroline, TikTok revival figures, next project)
• HollywoodChicago.com — Podtalk: Director Adam Rehmeier Goes to ‘Carolina Caroline’ (tier3; career summary and June 2026 theatrical release)