THE POISONER is a hyper-aesthetic, abstract narrative following two people engaging in a desperate act of togetherness.

The film follows the home life of a woman who has agreed to marry a man and, over the course of their life together, poison him to death. Though both parties have their own personal reasons for agreeing to such a dubious arrangement, they are contract-bound not to discuss them. Over time, the fugitive nature of the arrangement, coupled with the fear of life after its termination begins to erode the perceived stability of their lifestyle. The film examines issues of mortality, desire for control and the problematic rubric of Love, as well as the extremes to which we may go to find our place in the world.

Hefner’s second feature-length film, The Poisoner builds upon the rich visual and conceptual vocabulary of his first feature The Pink Hotel, which he has honed for the past several years in his short films and multimedia artwork. At the same time, The Poisoner offers a shedding of old comforts in the pursuit of exciting new developments into distilled image-making strategies and a more intimate focus on character. The Poisoner seeks to combine these evolutions with Hefner’s strong sense for the mysterious to reveal unexpected parallels with all-too-recognizable everyday realities.