Beth de Araújo’s Soft & Quiet follows the afternoon of an elementary school teacher named Emily (Stefanie Estes) as she attends a mixer she’s organized for a group called The Daughters of Aryan Unity. The event begins gently, with polite banter and homemade baked goods. As soon as Emily reveals the swastika she’s baked into her pie, the darker side of the gathering reveals itself, and veiled, sinister language devolves into real violence.

The film is a true ensemble piece, but Estes helms the story with her nuanced portrayal of Emily. Filmed in one take on four separate days, Soft & Quiet brings the audience into an anxiety-inducing nightmare that leaves viewers questioning whether characters like these might exist closer to home than they’d like.

Forbes spoke with de Araújo and Estes about the original conception of Soft & Quiet during the pandemic. We also discussed their research on its dark subject matter and what surprised them about the process of creating the film.