I Blame Society
Director: Gillian Wallace Horvat Run Time: 84 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2021
Starring: Chase Williamson, Gillian Wallace Horvat, Keith Poulson
Country: United States
Language: English
Presented in the Virtual Screening Room in partnership with Cranked Up Films.
“One of the best films of the year…An exquisite example of how quickly the thin line between reality and art can blur”
– Stephanie Archer, Film Inquiry
About the film:
Nominated for the Bright Future Award at the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam. Writer-director Gillian Wallace Horvat plays a fictionalized version of herself in her brilliant dark comedy commentary on artistic passion and independent filmmaking.
Feeling frustrated and powerless in a male-dominated industry, a young filmmaker senses her peers are losing faith in her ability to succeed. To prove herself, she resurrects an abandoned documentary project on how she would commit the perfect murder. Turns out, she’s really good at it.
About the filmmakers:
Gillian Wallace Horvat co-wrote the screenplay for I Blame Society with her friend Chase Williamson, who plays Chase and is best known for his role as David Wong in John Dies at the End. Wallace Horvat is also a guest columnist for Filmmaker Magazine and her writing has appeared in Sight & Sound. She produced the feature A Fuller Life, a documentary on the life and films of director Samuel Fuller that premiered at the 2013 Venice Film Festival.
Known for her fantastic short films, Wallace Horvat wrote, directed, and produced Whiskey Fist which was nominated for the Grand Jury Award in the 2015 SXSW Midnight Shorts program, and Kiss Kiss Fingerbang which won two years later. Los Angeles’ LGBTQ film festival Outfest selected her as a juror for the 2020 narrative short program.
Originally conceived as a documentary entitled I, Murderer, the idea for I Blame Society came when two friends told Wallace Horvat that she would make a good murderer. She quickly realized that the qualities that make a good serial killer are the same ones that make a good director.
Read more from Wallace Horvat in an interview with Tori Danielle at PopHorror or listen to her A Brighter Lens podcast interview.
See all virtual titles