All-seated feature film, 18+ only, and all profits from the screening go to benefit Triangle Mutual Aid! 72 minute runtime, with pre-recorded Q&A with director Mae M to follow.
Synopsis: Two maladapted young women, both part of the same internet gore enthusiast community, formulate a plan to meet in person with the intent that one will kill the other, film the killing, and then sell the cameras that “watched” to an unsuspecting customer online in the hopes of spurring on a “new era of death.”
Inspired in equal parts by mumblecore, shot-on-video horror, and a deep unease formed by the internet’s mass syndication of violence, Divine Hammer is the debut feature by the M. Sisters, the multimedia duo of Hazel and Mae M.
Selected Reviews:
“An astounding debut film that’s aesthetically, narratively, and (perhaps most exciting of all) tonally unique.” – Kyle Logan, The Chicago Reader
“I would love if queer/trans cinema headed in the direction that Divine Hammer proposes… I was enthralled with where it took me, and I’m excited for others to go on that journey.” – Willow Catelyn Maclay, author, Corpses, Fools, and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema
“Filmed on low-resolution miniDV cameras, the imagery on display is jaw-dropping in its simultaneously expansive and intimate scope, using outdated tools to capture Sheetz parking lots, old camp sites, and scummy apartments with clarity and purpose and heart. Divine Hammer, by logline alone, is not for the faint of heart, but the open-hearted, communal spirit lying under the rot of it all is a gift that keeps on giving.” – Ben Kaye, Cine-File
Director Bios:
The M. Sisters are a multimedia creative duo making art on, for, and about the internet. Hazel is best known for her music as smiling broadly and Twinkle Park and her dumb anime videos on the “hazel” YouTube channel. Mae is best known as Hazel’s little sister. Divine Hammer is their first film.
Showing will also include an award-winning animated short by local filmmaker Rosie Brewster, titled Sickie.
