Coming off of her English-language debut with The Silent Twins (2022), visionary filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczyńska brings us Hot Spot, a bracing, audaciously original vision of the future that offers a mirror of our present, in all of its anxieties and uncertainties from A.I., climate change, and global unrest.

The film takes us to the nowhere and everywhere of a near-future dystopian world, where society has been utterly reshaped. In Hot Spot, set in a near-future society ruled by sentient A.I., a private eye investigates a murder case only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord. As the detective’s identity slowly unravels, his world enters a state of hypnotic meltdown.

Shot through with visceral and subversive imagination, and powered by an eclectic cast, Hot Spot soon morphs thrillingly from a murder-detective story into a surrealist sci-fi trip, from dystopia into dreamscape. In its daringly playful genre mashup, we’re confronted with the great terrors and possibilities of our time that we all know but can’t exactly articulate, that shadow not only what it feels like to look toward the future, but to be alive today. The film is not meant to provide the answer, but instead simply inspire more questions. As you watch, don’t use the logic you are used to using. Immerse yourself in this world – enter a dream-like state and allow yourself to experience, confront and prove those unnameable fears that pervade modern life. Go on the wild, genre-bending ride! Watch the trailer.

Run Time: 100 minutes