Exclusive Trailer: ALTER Targets Islamophobia In Social Horror/Thriller Short THE INVADERS
Jonathan Barkan
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Yet again, Gunpowder & Sky’s horror brand ALTER is here to bring audiences something timely, relevant, and powerful. In exactly one week, they’ll be releasing writer/director Mateo Márquez’ short film The Invaders, the award-nominated Best International Short from last year’s Fantasia Film Festival. The film tackles the alarming Islamophobia that is growing amongst many countries.
Márquez explains, “The Invaders is my dramatic representation of the Anti-Muslim sentiment that is spreading through the United States and other Western countries. Hateful rhetoric and the promotion of negative stereotypes have sown uncertainty and fear among Muslims living in the West. Muslims have become victims of violence, marginalization, and exclusion from social, political and civil life. Muslim women and men have been verbally, and sometimes even physically attacked as attitudes towards them have turned to violent extremes.”
He continues by adding, “Using a supernatural sci-fi tone and an initially slow-paced eeriness, followed by a relentless acceleration, we have shown where we believe the spread and normalization of Islamophobia might lead. The Invaders shows a potentially not too distant future shaped by a political agenda that seizes and feeds and upon popular fear and hysteria.”
As a Jewish man who is deeply unsettled by the global growth of anti-Semitism and is shocked and appalled by the “detention centers” (let’s be honest, they’re concentration camps) currently in use in the United States, I am proud to be a part of the discussion that, hopefully, helps combat these terrible mentalities. Horror has always been a genre that has faced inequalities, appropriately, without fear. From Tod Browning’s Freaks to Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge, with so much more around and in between, genre films have been at the forefront of tackling challenging issues by using those very themes in their stories. The Invaders continues this necessary and incontestably important trend.
Above is an exclusive trailer that will give you a taste of the story to come.
“On her way home, Jayla, a Muslim girl, notices that she is being followed. Terror and confusion take over as Jayla struggles to escape the powerful force that is menacing her. As Anti-Muslim sentiments spread through Western societies, The Invaders imagines a not too distant future, in which an exaggerated fear of Islam has created systems without any moral or humanitarian regard.“
Written and directed by Mateo Márquez, The Invaders stars Isra Elsalihie, Greta Murdoch, and Alastair Murdoch. You can keep up-to-date with this film, and upcoming ALTER titles, on YouTube and Facebook.
