Last year, a little indie captured the hearts of Team GATW. It was called EASIER WITH PRACTICE, and the film chronicled the pangs of love through the skewed lens of a very different sort of relationship. Since that film hit the festival circuit (and hit us in the hearts), we've been nothing but huge fans of its writer and director Kyle Patrick Alvarez. It's really only the icing on the cake that Alvarez is not only a fresh talent to watch, he's also one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.

Which is why we're so pleased to share news on the director's next project. According to Variety, Alvarez will next direct the indie thriller GIRLS. Alvarez has written the script with Adam Shazar, and the film will be produced and financed by Peter Safran and his Safran Company. The film "brings a fresh twist to a conventional thriller in telling the story of a slumber party gone wrong after four teenage girls are terrorized by a pair of kidnappers."

Alvarez has cited this year's BURIED as a film that inspired the "ambition" of the project, so I am guessing that we won't be getting just a regular home invasion flick with GIRLS. It's also a natural fit for Alvarez to helm a thriller, as even though EASIER WITH PRACTICE was a romantic drama, it also had a fair bit of tension. Look no further than the film's final twenty or so minutes to see that Alvarez is capable of crafting characters we care about, and then sticking them in situations that will make it hard for you to breathe.

EASIER WITH PRACTICE won awards at both Cinevegas and the Edinburgh Film Festival. Alvarez also won the Someone to Watch award at the Independent Spirit Awards. Back in May, we exclusively announced that Alvarez was adapting a David Sedaris story into a feature film.