FATHER!
PHANTASMAL FILM FEST · MAY 2026
Director: Abe Smyth & Sophia Adli
2024
Content Warnings
Graphic blood/violence and hints at child abuse.
Now grown up and seeking closure, Saoirse calls the spirit of her abusive father back from the dead. Suddenly a doppelganger appears in the form of an American priest. Is he a good priest or does he have a dark secret like her own father did? And if so, will she be able to stand up and end this cycle of abuse now she's strong enough to fight back.' This is a film described by Belfast Film Festival as "Surreal and funny, this is a gleefully camp horror which revels in the grim particulars of revenge." and we couldn't have put it better ourselves. The film is about standing up to abuse of power and the parallels between an abusive parent and an abusive priest, both are in positions of power and trust and unfortunatley sometimes this is taken advantage of, our film plays as a kind of exaggerated genre wish fulfilment of being able to finally stand up to these injusitces. Our film has played a number of wonderful festivals from the Bafta qualifying Belfast film festival to the upcoming North Film Festival in New York.

A Little Bit About The Filmmaker
Do you like scary movies? And if so which ones?
Absolutley! The Lighthouse, Bring Her Back, Exorcist 3, Possession (1981), Videodrome, Saint Maud, Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors, Demons, Suspiria, The House that Jack Built....too many to list haha :)
Who or what is the biggest influence in your film making?
David Lynch and David Cronenberg
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