River Phoenix's final film screens at Berlin Film Festival

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Twenty years after the actor's tragic death, River Phoenix's final film made its debut at the Berlin Film Festival today.

"Dark Blood" was the film Phoenix had been working on at the time of his death, of a drug overdose on October 30, 1993. The project remained uncompleted for two decades, until director George Sluizer rescued rolls of film from the movie's insurance company and took it upon himself to finish the movie. He completed the film in January.

"I'm missing about 25 percent of it, and we lack a number of scenes, but having shown it to a few people after I salvaged it, who raved about the performances, I felt safe enough to continue," Sluizer told The Guardian. He would go on to warn audiences that the picture is "a chair with three legs," as he had a voice actor complete Phoenix's scenes, a move with the potential to be jarring, if not uncomfortable.

"Dark Blood" will get its US premiere at the Miami Film Festival in March.

Via: Zap2It