Down the Arm of God

DCP / Color / 106’
English; with Turkish
France, USA, 2026

Director: Peter Brunner
Screenplay: Peter Brunner, Caleb Landry Jones
Cinematography: Peter Flinckenberg
Editing: Peter Brunner
Cast: Caleb Landry Jones, India Marie Cross, Nick Stahl, Mena Suvari, John P.W. Jones
Producer: Luc Besson, Caleb Landry Jones, Christian Sosa, Jon Wroblewski
Production: EuropaCorp, Roosevelt Film Lab
World Sales: Kinology

Synopsis

When an unprecedented, deadly winter storm descends upon Amarillo, the town’s idealistic new pastor, Nick, is faced with a defining choice. Guided by radical empathy, he unlocks the church’s sanctuary doors, turning a house of worship into an emergency shelter for the local unhoused population fighting to survive the freezing cold. But what begins as a simple act of Christian charity instantly ignites a powder keg of systemic rage. Terrified of the “outsiders” inside their sacred space, the local congregation and town leadership turn sharply on their own shepherd. As the temperature drops outside, the racist hostility inside boils over into an explosive, community-wide standoff that threatens to dismantle the town’s social fabric. Produced by Luc Besson and directed by Peter Brunner, Down the Arm of God is a blistering, high-stakes psychological drama inspired by tragic true stories. Starring Caleb Landry Jones in a powerhouse performance, the film strips away the mask of institutional righteousness to ask a terrifying question: How far will a community go to keep out the very people they were taught to save?

Screenings