Wednesday afternoon’s movie at the 2026 Tribeca Festival was The Leader, written and directed by Michael J. Gallagher. Due to the sensitive nature of the subject, I won’t include the poster.

The Leader is a harrowing account of the Heaven’s Gate cult, focused on its leaders, Bonnie Lu Nettles a/k/a Do (Vera Farmiga) and Marshall Hepplewhite a/k/a Ti (Tim Blake Nelson). Of the 38 followers who died at Hepplewhite’s behest in 1997, three are featured: Warren (Jim Parsons), Michelle (Grace Caroline Currey), and David (Simon Rex), all of whom stray from the cult’s teachings and suffer as a result.

Not much is said about the other cult members and why they stayed with Ti and Do to the end—Warren did not. Apparently suicide was a dealbreaker for him alone. The need for certainty is as good an explanation as any, then and now. As for the leaders, it seemed to be equal parts believing what they preached, as absurd as it was, and simple grift. Someone has to pay the rent, even when heaven is your destination and ascension is imminent.

No cars exploded in flames, to Gallagher’s credit. What you do get is buckets of fake blood (don’t ask and whatever you do, don’t look) and a completely gratuitous closeup of an operation. The audience reacted to both with disbelief and thoroughly appropriate disgust.

(one star subtracted for the blood and the footage of the operation)