Imposter syndrome takes new twists in Bernhard Wenger’s Peacock, a satirical tragicomedy that made its Southeastern premiere at the 56th Nashville Film Festival.
Business is thriving for MyCompanion, a friend-rental service that offers employees to attend parties, act as a stand-in dad or son and more. As the CEO and agent of MyCompanion, Matthias (played by Albrecht Schuch) takes on each of these roles, but with all of the prep work for his obligations, he really has no time to just be himself. As the self-care begins, he finds a young woman whom he begins to suspect is not what she appears to be.
Schuch delivers an excellent performance as Matthias, capturing the character’s nuanced emotions and internal struggles with subtlety. His polished look and natural charisma serve as the perfect vessel for a man who is constantly changing identities.
But Peacock wasn’t the only thing strutting around the 2025 film festival…
As we prepared to witness the submissions of first-time filmmakers and noticed a recurring theme among quite a few of the entries, all sorts of cinematic surprises were revealed to be alive. Opryland returned to the Music City — if ever so briefly on the big screen. CreatiVets helped turn silence into art for veterans and Jason was really digging the Graveyard Shorts.
Sleaze met sparkle in Fucktoys, while Slanted unmasked the price of belonging. Silver Screamers proved that no experience is necessary — and no age limit should ever prevent you — when crafting a horror movie. And The Other People haunted the attendees (and the film wound up winning the Audience Award of the fest).
It’s safe to say that 2025 was an eventful year for the Nashville Film Festival, but even though the crowds have already returned home, you can still participate, but the time’s quickly running out, so don’t you dare delay!
Visit the film fest’s webpage in order to find its Virtual Cinema. For a few more days, a selection of the fest’s 150 films will be currently available for home viewing… but they will disappear into thin air on September 29th, so check out the webpage as soon as possible in order to taste a slice of this year’s festivities.
It was a very good year to be a film aficionado in Middle Tennessee. We’re already mapping out our plan of attack for the 2026 Nashville Film Festival!