Filmmaking and killing become metaphors for each other in the deranged satire of I Blame Society, which starts out as a personal documentary about director Gillian Horvat before bizarrely morphing into a film-within-a-film murdering spree. Layers of farce notwithstanding, Horvat’s first feature examines through a feminist lens the state of mind of a prospective director ‘finding the film’ and fighting external forces, both in terms of industry and personal relationships.

Horvat further complicates matters by starring as herself, or at least a version of, trying to prove the assumption that a good murderer is also a good director, and vice versa. I spoke with Horvat, who has an extensive background as a director of shorts, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where I Blame Society had its world premiere in the Bright Future section, discussing her personal experiences as a filmmaker and how they informed the story, and the question of how we perceive ourselves within our working environment.