House of Sweat and Tears

Sonia Escolano’s mesmerising treatise on religion, faith, and belief marries the aesthetic style of European cinema with the language of horror films to delivery a story both unique and shocking in its take on extremism.

Somewhere in an unnamed country, “She,” a mysterious and enigmatic figure, leads a religious cult. Through strict rules and even stricter hierarchy she ensures that her flock never strays from the path of righteousness, and those who even dare to suggest anything out of the ordinary are punished without mercy.

However, a series of events start to corrupt the very fabric of their reality; doubt starts to set in for some of the members, and the arrival of a mysterious outsider sets She and her followers on a path of collision from which no one will emerge unscathed.

Highly stylized and deliberately plotted, HOUSE OF SWEAT AND TEARS marks the arrival of an original voice within genre cinema. Exploring the murky waters of blind faith and rebellion, and cleverly divided into chapters to better accentuate the journey of its characters, the film slowly dissects what happens to a community ruled by fear when doubt is introduced into its fabric. - Evrim Ersoy, Fantastic Fest