HEKLA (Michael Glover Smith, 2026)
89 mins.

Q&A with director Michael Glover Smith & star Elizabeth Stam.

Midwest indie stalwart and regular Spectacle guest Michael Glover Smith returns with his latest, a self-reflexive tribute to the endless hustle of artists who move through American cities like blood through their veins. Set over one hectic day in Chicago, HEKLA explores how ambition, identity, and vulnerability collide when you’re chasing something as personal, and uncertain, as an acting career. Narrated by the great Wendy Robie (Nadine on Twin Peaks), HEKLA has something of Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire’s depictions of an actress’s psyche fragmented and scattered across competing roles, but embedded in a lovingly and affably rendered everyday, and grounded by a sincere and charismatic lead performance by cowriter Elizabeth Stam. Stam plays Hekla Gudmunsdottir, a determined Chicago actress, who races through four auditions in a single day before performing Macbeth in a barroom that night, juggling a breakup, new and old friendships, and her self-doubt. Shot across Chicago’s cafés, pubs, and bookstores, and offering a colorful cross-section of the city’s theater scene, HEKLA is the story of a life lived creatively, told with humor and headlong momentum.