The Feast

“A keen-edged, slow-burn Welsh-language horror that takes no prisoners”
– Jessica Kiang, VARIETY

“A folk horror fan's dream come true. Among the smartest, most literate, and goriest of SXSW's Midnighters, The Feast is hands down the best of the section.”
– J. Hurtado, SCREEN ANARCHY

Who’s got an appetite for gruesome, dreamy eco-horror? THE FEAST sets its distinctive storytelling table inside a surrealist-sleek household nestled deep in lush Welsh countryside, where a politician’s family are putting together an extravagant dinner. A new hire (HIDDEN’s Annes Elwy) is brought into the home when a sudden crisis makes it impossible for the household’s regular helper to assist. When not serving, she observes in silence with eerie, almost anthropological interest. Everything set to happen that night will do so with designs towards winning a lucrative deal to mine in the local forestry. Centuries-old lifeforces in said forestry, however, may have other plans on what exactly is to be served.

Shot entirely in the Welsh language, crafted with intelligence and cruelty, THE FEAST plays like a modern fairy tale for greed-fueled end-times. It’s a striking feature debut from BAFTA-winning television director Lee Haven Jones (35 DAYS, DOCTOR WHO), one that deconstructs and plays with family dynamics while building atmosphere brilliantly – initially with a sense of magic realism that borders on gothic fantasy, soon into the dream-logic territory of nightmares, with Grand Guignol shocks to spare. Dripping with atmosphere, shot and designed with clinical yet somehow otherworldly aesthetics, this grisly supernatural morality tale is a standout in cinema’s current folk horror revival. We’re especially excited to be showing it in the same year as Kier-la Janisse’s ground-breaking doc, WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED (which can’t be praised highly enough). – Mitch Davis