Sissy

This Instagram influencer doesn’t just have a follower count – she’s got a body count.

As children, Cecilia and Emma swore they’d be friends forever – until third wheel Alex entered the picture to full frenemy effect, provoking a falling-out that has tainted the intervening years. Now a popular Instagram wellness influencer, Cecilia reconnects with Emma, who has invited her to a hen’s weekend at a secluded country house … which happens to belong to Alex. As passive-aggressiveness morphs into outright aggression, the weekend spirals into algorithm-breaking Insta-carnage.

In their second feature collaboration, which premiered to raucous acclaim as SXSW 2022’s Midnighters opener, Aussie co-directors Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes indulge in lampooning the hallucinatory look and feel – not to mention ravenous excesses – of aspirational social media. Their Canberra-shot horror-comedy takes you on a reaction roller-coaster: from screams of “LOL” to shrieks at the gnarliest gore. Fans of Ingrid Goes West (MIFF 2017) and Tragedy Girls (MIFF 2017) are sure to ‘like’ this depraved, decidedly local revenge tale.

“Gross and darkly funny … Sissy takes the trusted genre scenario of being alone in a cabin in the woods and laces it with a queer, female-strong gaze.” – The AU Review