Gimme Truth a documentary about conspiracy theories and the people that go down rabbit holes in search of them just premiered at Fantastic Fest 2026. I was able to have a conversation with directors Brad Abrahams & Simon Ennis about the genesis of the documentary, the people they documented as well how to bring people out of these theories. Here is that conversation:
Terms & Conditions is one of the short films playing Fantastic Fest 2026. The incident was directed and adapted from the short story The Devil's Code by Frank M. Taylor. I was able to talk with Kev about the making of the film prior to it's world premiere.Here is that interview:
Her Will Be Done opens in black screen. The sound of heavy breathing. The seconds pass. A full minute. You become disoriented. The first image is a flame coming to life and then a fire. The fire consumes. Faces are on the other side of the flames. One of those faces is a young girl.
"My Mother knelt before Satan. The evil was in her." The camera zooms closer to the girl. "It is inside me too."
This begins the story of Nawojka (Maria Wróbel.) Nawojka as the only woman in the family she cooks for her father and two brothers. She tends to the livestock and other duties on the family farm. She longs to go to school to become a veterinarian and begin her own life on her terms.
Across the street a new woman has moved in. Her name is Sandra (Roxane Mesquida) Nawojka's nights are filled with torment. Images of the people around her menace her. She is fighting something with every fiber of her being.
In the morning the family gathers around a sick, dying cow. The land is sprouting thick bulbous mucus. Another night. More torment.
Maria Wróbel's portrayal of Nawojka is the central force to the story of Her Will Be Done. Maria infuses Nawojka with wide-eyed wonder of being in the presence of Sandra. You can feel her longing for someone and something beyond the confines of the tiny village the family farms sits in. Maria brings great intensity to the nightly torments. Both her physical and spiritual struggles against forces beyond her control. Nawojka's face is often stoic. It in her eyes we feel the pathos of her inner turmoil. As the torment crosses from the metaphysical to real world actions Maria's physicality is compelling and disturbing.
The nights brings agony. The days go on. The farm and the family must be tended to. Nawojka''s brother's wedding brings brief respite. The force that is Sandra crashes the reception. She is chased off. Nawojka follows. Sandra warns her to go back, "I'm going to make a mess." The appeal, the magnetism, the force that is Sandra is far too compelling to walk away from.
Julia Kowalski's direction is assured and nuanced. Cinematographer Simon Beaufils crafts imagery of a muted sun over pastoral farm lands. The darkness of night is a meaning dark confluence surrounding and enveloping Nawojka's ever-increasing distress. Daniel Kowalski's score accompanies the narrative. The notes gives way to pulsing tones as the narrative intensifies. An electric guitar wails casting strength, determination and purpose.
Fire is destruction. Fire is cleansing. Fire is rebirth. The flames call to Nawojka. The town goes after Sandra. Where do you go when belief becomes mob mentality. Can you be safe when grief ferments into communal violence.
It is in the denouement of Her Will Be Done that elevates an already compelling folk horror story to something that subverts our expectations.
Her Will Be Done opens at The Roxy in New York City on September, 23, 2026. You can buy tickets here.
The last Sunday of the Toronto International Film Festival always sees the announcing of the awards. It has become synonymous with the kickoff of the fall awards season. It has been well documented the number of time that the tiff People's Choice Award has gone onto to Academy Award nominations.
The Platform Prize goes to the film Angh directed by Theja Rio
The People's Choice Documentary Award goes to Darlene Love: I Know Where I Have Been directed by Barry Avrich
And the People's Chice Award of the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival goes to.....
La Bola Negra directed by Javier Calvo & Javier Ambrossi
Prior to the Fantastic Fest World Premiere of Girl In The Night I was able to have a conversation with writer & director Luka Marčetić and actor Lara Wolf about all aspects of making their superhero movie in Slovenia. Here is our conversation:
Luka Marčetić “I am deeply interested in people who are mostly quiet, shy, and to a point enjoy solitary existence. These people often go unnoticed in everyday life, yet they possess a unique strength in their quietness. I always wanted to put them in roles of vulnerable heroes and antiheroes. This is a story about boredom and the search for friendship in very strange circumstances.”
Film Synopsis: The aimless life of a lonely kleptomaniac takes an unexpected turn for the worse when he steals a bicycle from a mysterious girl who spends her nights fighting crime. To cut through the mundanity of his night shifts, Rok keeps himself busy by stealing chocolate bars at the gas station where he works. One night, he meets a mysterious girl with severe bruises on her face. She only appears at night, is all about fighting crime, and claims to possess superpowers. If he wants to meet her again, Rok will have to come up with a cunning plan – so he decides to steal her bike.
Death Has No Master has just received it's North American premiere at this years edition of Fantastic Fest.
On August 1, 1498 Christopher Columbus would land at the Paria Peninsula in what is now known as Venezuela. He would claim this land - at first he believed it was an island - for Spain. History has noted that Columbus saw the the Kalinago and Arawakan wearing pearl ornaments. This would begin subsequent decades of further Spanish encroachment on this region. For pearls and the continuing of a system Columbus called repartimiento, otherwise known as slavery. Indigenous people were forced to work on the mines, farms of their lands and some people were kidnapped to Spain as slaves.
In 1922 oil was discovered in Venezuela.
On January 3, 2026 the Trump administration authorized a predawn raid in Caracas the U.S. military arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Now many months later through dubious deal-making U.S. oil giant Chevron is expanding oil operations in Venezuela. "Chevron's history in Venezuela spans more than a century, and our expanded position reflects our confidence in the country's deep resource potential." CEO Mike Wirth said in a prepared statement days ago.
In Jorge Thielen Armand's timely new film Death Has No Master, Caro (Asia Argento) father has recently passed away. Caro travels from Italy to Venezuela with the intention of sell her childhood home. Once she arrives at the plantation mansion she discovers a bunch of people living on the property, lead by Sonia (Dogreika Tovar) who has been subletting rooms to others.
At first Caro and Sonia come to an understanding that they will co-exist in the mansion. As time passes and it becomes known that Caro is intending to sell the property and thereby displace Sonia her son Maiko who Caro vehemently calls Michael and everyone relying on this space for habitation the tensions begin to flare and serial into violence.
A direction that struck me as a viewer is at first I was concerned with Caro's well-being. As the film progresses and her true colors and intentions emerge that dynamic shifts for Sonia, Maiko and everyone else. The character of Yoni (Arturo Rodriguez) who worked for Caro's father is there alongside her until he is not.
I was first struck with the look of the film and could not quite place when the movie was set. As the story progresses we learn that the film is rooted in the present day. I found the look of the film crafted by cinematographer Luis Armando Arteaga and Jorge was incredible. Not having the film visually look immediately and readily be placed in the present day underlines the centuries of colonial invasion and genocide.
Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton first used the term "psychic numbing" in 1967 to describe how rescue workers and survivors after the Hiroshima bombing shut off their emotions to cope with overwhelming horror. When large scale tragedies occur such as genocide as we are seeing in Gaza many people cannot comprehend that many people being killed, injured, maimed or displaced. Death Has No Master succeeds in taking these large scale concepts of colonialism and genocide and placing them in the level of individual actions and repercussions.
On September 30 in Canada is now known as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. A day to reflect upon Canada's systemic violence towards the indigenous people within Canada such as the residential school system which was prevalent well into the 1990s. Canada has a long history of in particular gold mining in Venezuela. At the time of this writing the United States while having Indigenous People's Day is observed in 17 states and D.C. is not a Federal recognized Day. A first step to reconciliation is to formally recognize the past violence towards first peoples. I live in Texas where the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has voted to further white wash Texas history in classrooms.
Perhaps these wealthy nations need to do more to address their global impact and not just within boarders that were drawn by colonizers and labelled, 'home". A film such as Death Has No Master which further draws attention to these issues is very welcomed in our quest for actual reconciliation and not a day of platitudes.
Here is my interview with director Jorge Thielen Armand:
