SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2026 REVIEW: It’s Italy again for the win in the outstanding experimental short Diana & Minerva, representing a huge achievement for filmmaker Francesca Occhionero. It features two goddesses from Roman mythology. One is Diana (Chloe Crawford), the goddess of the hunt. The other is Minerva (Patricia Bermudez), the goddess of war. These two deities engage in a cosmic dialogue that is represented as messages left on an answering machine for each other.
Instead of Roman Goddesses, the women sound very modern, letting the other know a sale is going on, as well as wonder out loud if the other really likes them. Meanwhile, in a perfectly pink kitchen done up all retro, a glorious feast is being prepared by cooks (Diana Arevalo De Barrenechea, Miverva Juarez De Facundo) who leave ethereal trails in the air when they move. Scenes of fancy spreads intermingle with Mexican figures of ancient gods…
“Two goddesses from Roman mythology.”
I love Italian cinema. Italian cinema’s output to other countries is like comparing napkins to a sheet of LSD. Italians will find the crazy in any genre and set up lunacy mines, unleashing insane westerns, horror movies, and giallos upon a square globe. So I could not wait to see what an experimental film would taste like, Italian style. With Diana & Minerva, Occhionero does not disappoint. She delivers an amazing-looking work of art that is so crazy it works.
There is a delightfully fetishistic focus on the dinner party arrangements, with colors popping across the plates with ornate glassware. It comes across like an old-school Good Housekeeping magazine on acid. Occhionero not only juxtaposes elements of the divine with the mundane, but she also marries them in a shotgun Vegas wedding. This is the experimental alchemy I saw others killing themselves reaching for decades ago, and now I get to see it achieved. Diana & Minerva continues the Italian cinema tradition of rewiring perception itself. A must-see.
Diana & Minerva screened at the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival.
"…an amazing looking work of art that is so crazy it works. "
