Heather McIntosh (Compliance, Z for Zachariah) is reteaming with director Riley Stearns on the upcoming comedy The Art of Self-Defense. The film is written and directed by Stearns and stars Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots and Alessandro Nivola. The movie is set in the world of Karate and centers on a man who is attacked at random on the street and enlists in a local dojo in an effort to learn how to defend himself. Andrew Kortschak & Cody Ryder (Cop Car), Stephanie Whonsetler and Walter Kortschak are producing the project. McIntosh has previously scored Stearn’s last feature, Faults. The Art of Self-Defense is expected to be released  later this year by Bleecker Street.

McIntosh’s other recent projects include the documentary Hal directed by Amy Scott about director Hal Ashby (Harold & Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo). The movie will premiere next week at the Sundance Film Festival. The composer also has  the Netflix original movie 6 Balloons written and directed by Marja-Lewis Ryan and starring Abbi Jacobson, Dave Franco, Jane Kaczmarek & Tim Matheson coming up. The drama, which follows a woman who discovers that her brother has relapsed on heroin while his 2-year old daughter is in his care, is expected to premiere later this year on Netflix. She also scored the comedy Little Bitches written and directed by Nick Kreiss and starring Jennette McCurdy, Kiersey Clemons, Virginia Gardner & Jaime Camil. The movie revolves around a group of friends who vow to open their college acceptance letters at the same time during the big end-of-year party and will be released on VOD on January 23.