The Hanged Man screens online for 24 hours at the Fall 2026 New Jersey Film Festival on Sunday, September 27. Here is my interview with Director Korab Uka:
Nigrin: Tell us about the genesis of your film The Hanged Man and why you decided to make it.
Uka: This is a story I’ve had in my head for a long time and one that kept evolving on so many levels - with focus particularly directed at the type of ending I wanted and how I wanted the characters to get there so it was always evolving creatively. The main inspiration came from actually working as a doorman myself, the job offers you a lot of time to yourself mentally and I know I wanted to tell a story related to what I was doing and to what I felt at the time was a very intimate dynamic - I would know who these residents are friends, their family, the food they like, the pharmacy they prefer, etc. -- all things that a stranger should not really be privy to. I remember being so blown away by that idea and wanting to explore that in a surrealist way.
Nigrin: Your film is pretty surreal and with a claustrophobic artistic horror atmosphere. Was that always the intent? Did your film evolve during the filming?
Uka: This was most certainly always the intent - the story itself is intimate and you typically get that from one location story films so I wanted everything to be related to each other, the aspect ratio along with how the film is shot with the actors at times never fully in frame or visible was in my mind another correlation with the story that I was trying to convey. Style and artistic choices should complement the story you tell not overshadow it. During filming, as with all projects you have to adapt to your environment and with low-budget filmmaking you usually don’t get rehearsals or days before to perfect everything, so you must make things up on the spot. The perfect shot exists even if it’s not the shot you intended in the first place, adapt to your environment. The main story did not evolve during filming but a lot of technical aspects of the film did and majority of that is due to the location.
Nigrin: Tell us about the lead actors Perry Dell'Aquila as The Father, Gay Haubner as The Mother, Max Pettit as The Doorman, as well as Danielle Keen and Carl Nowak? How did you end up working with them?
Uka: All the actors were scouted through backstage. All super talented and so willing to be part of the process which is very appreciated. A special shoutout to both Perry & Max for being top professionals and always willing to go the extra mile for the project. Actors like those two make any project so much easier to deal with and overcome. Can not recommend them both more.
Nigrin: “The Hanged Man” is also a Tarot Card. Did Tarot have a role in shaping your film?
Uka: It did! I love tarot cards although I am not well versed in them, the hanged man always had something to it that intrigued me and I particularly like how it decided your fate by the way it would be placed down, the double meaning - is he hanging or is he balancing. The film itself is a representation of that card - a story of two halves- one of victim, one of savior, one of evil and absurdness and one of love and vulnerability.
Nigrin: Are there any memorable stories while you made this film or any other info about your film that you can rely to our readers?
Uka: The Hanged Man was made with no film school background, no industry backing, and no real interest in following the rules. It is a completely self-funded, self-taught independent film made by people who simply wanted to make something strange, uncompromising, and entirely our own. This is arthouse horror with its gloves off, raw, uncomfortable, funny, occasionally absurd, and willing to get weird. We weren’t interested in sanding down the edges or making the safest version of the story. The limitations became part of the film’s DNA. The Hanged Man is weird, scrappy, balls-to-the-wall independent horror. For better or worse, nobody told us how we were supposed to make it—so we made exactly the movie we wanted to make.
The Hanged Man – Korab Uka (Bronx, New York) A doorman is unexpectedly invited to a dinner at the secluded estate of one of the wealthy families he serves. But as the evening unfolds, he begins to suspect that the invitation wasn't just an act of kindness. 2026; 70 min.
The Hanged Man screens online at Fall 2026 New Jersey Film Festival on Sunday, September 27, 2026 – Online for 24 Hours! Buy tickets here.
The 45th Bi-annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place between September 4-October 4, 2026. The Festival will be a hybrid as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VOD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA.
Get more info here: https://newjerseyfilmfestivalfall2026.eventive.org/welcome
