Fantastic Fest: Folk-Horror ‘Falling Stars’ Gets a Festival Poster and Teaser Ahead of the North American Premiere

“Rob buried a witch…” Okay, I’m in. The stuff urban legends are made of comes to fruition in the folk-horror ‘Falling Stars’ coming to Fantastic Fest. 

It’s the night of the first harvest in the American West which means harmless traditional rituals are performed to placate witches in the sky. For three brothers this year’s event will be different. When they discover their friend has killed and buried a witch, they venture out into the desert to witness it for themselves. Whilst encountering the scene they accidentally desecrate the body setting in motion a sequence of perilous events. The only way they can put a stop to the curse set upon their family is to burn the corpse before sunrise.

Following a buzzed-about world premiere at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival on the Piazza Grande last month, a new festival poster has been released for ‘Falling Stars,’ Richard Karpalaand Gabriel Bienczycki’s feature directorial debut, ahead of its North American premiere at Austin’s Fantastic Fest later this month. The American folk-horror witch drama is directed and produced by Karpala and Bienczycki. In addition to these credits, Karpala wrote and edited and Bienczycki lensed the feature, which was described by Locarno’s artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro as “Monte Hellman doing The Blair Witch Project.”

“This story deals in many ways with the costs of coming-of-age,” said the Polish-American directors in a co-statement to Locarno Film Festival. “To leave the shelter of home and venture off into the unknown under the burden of youthful free will without a grasp of the consequences.”

Check out the festival poster and teaser trailer below, then catch the film at Fantastic Fest at the end of September.