MEDUSA World Cinema

Anita Rocha da Silveira (KILL ME PLEASE) returns to AFI FEST with MEDUSA, a modern horror-satire that fiercely critiques evangelical fanaticism in a Brazil which draws eerie comparisons to American society. Mariana (played with verve by Mari Oliveira) is part of a Christian girl gang that roughs up women they deem to be sinners and posts humiliating videos of their repentance to social media. Mariana is on a mission to find ultimate sinner, Melissa, a liberated woman who’s gone missing. MEDUSA pays homage to Argento-esque supernatural horror and is a clever play on tropes surrounding the eponymously fabled creature. With an infectious score and a vibrant aesthetic, da Silveira continues her streak of merging the darkly morbid with the sublimely feminine. –Julia Kipnis