The wait is almost over, but Jonah and Athaliah are still recruiting members for “The Observance.”
The winner of 11 international film festival awards, “The Observance” is a thriller flick shot in the Augusta area in 2024 and set for a theatrical release Valentine’s Day weekend 2026 – Friday, Feb. 13 , at AMC Theatres nationwide. The theatrical trailer dropped Dec. 12. See it here.
To lead up to the premiere, director Rob Hollocks was in the Augusta area Dec. 10-11 filming promotional videos featuring Alec James as Jonah and Anna Borchert as Athaliah, the cult’s two leaders.
“This will be a series of videos we’ll be releasing up until the film comes out. They are in character, and they are like cult recruitment videos,” said Hollocks, who also co-wrote the film with Amy Rhinehart Bailey.
These new promotional videos fall in line with one of the websites related to the film. The movie has its own website, theobservancemovie.com, but if you simply type the film’s name, theobservance.com a very different website comes up.
The landing page invites the viewer to join the community, and it uses some churchy lingo in hopes of attracting new members to its congregation.
Hollocks said their online strategy is paying off, and so far, they’ve attracted more than 1 million followers across their social media platforms.
“It’s mainly 18-40 year-olds, and there’s a strong female audience which is really a surprise,” he said.
But that might not be as much of a surprise when considering the two strong females in the film.
The first is Madison played by Kate Dailey, who won best actress for the role at the Berlin Indie Film Festival. She wakes up after years in a coma to find her family sucked into the cult.
The other is Borchert’s character of Athalia.
“She and Jonah are such a duo. People are entranced by their relationship. I joked when we were making it, that despite the fact they lead a cult and she’s a murderer, it’s a healthy relationship,” she said and laughed.
People may think of cults as being led by a charismatic man who dominates women and many times abuses them, but Athalia isn’t in that type of relationship, Borchert said.
“She’s his equal in every way possible,” she said. “She’s the power, she’s the violent one.”
Although it’s been nearly two years since the filming of the project, “The Observance” has been in the works for about seven years altogether, said Hollocks.
They honed the script, shot the film and polished the final product. He said he believes the extra time spent in editing made a difference.
He’s thrilled with the awards and to achieve a release in movie theaters is huge.
“Our goal was to prove independent film making is still viable. I’m proud of us having a theatrical release when we’re not backed by a studio,” he said. “We’re working directly with the theater chain. I’m really grateful for that.”
Although there’s not an AMC theater in the area, Hollocks said they are working on details for an Augusta premiere. Not only was the movie shot in the area, but its cast and crew was predominantly made up of Augusta area residents.
“The Observance” is the fourth film Hollocks has shot in the area, and it’s probably not the last. He has two ideas in the works and hopes to shoot one in 2026.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named Augusta Magazine’s best local writer in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
