Remember Black Mirror? Remember how we all collectively enjoyed the madness and occasionally psychotic things that happened in episodes of Black Mirror but then the show sort of imploded on itself and then, like modern-day Simpsons, had some great episodes but few and far between? Thankfully though, director Alexander DeSouza (Mother’s Day) and screenwriter Alexander Hernadez-Maxwell (Jarfly) create a Black Mirror-esque short, Holo, which is deeply unsettling, uncomfortable, hard to watch, and excellent through and through. There is something just so profoundly great about a 12-minute short that excels. The Dark Web shorts program at Tribeca Film Festival 2026 is the perfect vehicle for Holo to find an audience to truly get lost in the horror of the future.
Holo focuses on Claire (Morgan Kohan) as she has recently lost her partner, Jared (Shane West), and approaches a company called Looking Glass about having one last conversation with him. Looking Glass allows people to have a conversation with a holographic projection of a person they can no longer have conversations with. There is someone behind the hologram, however, and that is Gret (Zelda Williams), whose entire job is to orchestrate the conversations between each customer and the hologram they want to create — a job that is thankless and certainly weighs on the employee.
L-R: Beth Hornby as Denise and Morgan Kohan as Claire in HOLO. Photo Credit: Julian Lomaga. Photo Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Moreover though, as the audience finds out very quickly, Claire was the victim of abuse brought on by Jared and she has petitioned Looking Glass to allow her to gain closure, but things quickly delve into exploration of grief, memory, and how technology is not all it is cracked up to be. Can this virtual conversation, which most likely was fed dialogue, provide the closure that Claire is looking for, or is it a lost cause since what she is seeking and rightfully deserves can no longer be achieved or given.
Holo works for a variety of reasons but it’s mostly due to DeSouza and Hernandez-Maxwell’s direction and screenplay. They manage to craft something so horrifically real and traumatizing instilled in artificial reality. The presence of Shane’s Jared — is terrifying and real, despite being a hologram — and is constantly present and overpowering, trapping us right there with Claire.
Atop of the excellent script and direction provided for Holo, the film truly lives and dies by the performances of Morgan Kohan (Love on Harbor Island), Shane West (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and Zelda Williams (The Legend of Korra). Kohan is a true revelation here; her performance is heartbreaking, grounded, and deliberately placed. This performance feels lived in and brings the traumas of the character to life, excellently making it an uncomfortable situation for the audience to be a part of, one that is truly hard to watch and shake after the credits roll. Zelda Williams is the persona behind the automation and her short screentime is packed with power. Her performance makes it evident that Gret is deeply uncomfortable with the situation she finds herself in, all evidenced by her expression near the end of the short which says everything — the blank look of emptiness and sad acceptance of what her job has her doing. Shane West brings to life the horrifying reality of abusers and their larger-than-life stature in the most terrifying and unsettling way possible in Jared. The entire cast excels in bringing to life these deeply problematic and broken characters, creating the world and an unease that is usually a struggle to find in a feature, let alone a short.
Holo is a masterclass in storytelling and acting, a truly hard-to-shake experience as it sits with you throughout its 12-minute run time and lingers long after. Everyone involved brings their absolute best and leaves it all on the screen and Holo is better for it.
Screened during Tribeca Film Festival 2026.
For more information, head to the official Tribeca Film Festival Holo webpage.
Final Score: 4.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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