Adam Hoelzel’s Paranoid Thriller TENDER
Makes World Premiere at as the Closing Night Film of Dances With Films: LA June 28
Writer/director Adam Hoelzel is honored to announce that Dances With Films: LA will host the June 28th World Premiere of Tender, his debut directorial feature. He previously wrote the screenplay for Beast of Burden, starring Daniel Radcliffe.
Described as a slow-burn psychological thriller, Tender follows a married couple drowning in debt who discover what appears to be salvation within the walls of their home. Their jubilation quickly curdles into obsession, as their plan to escape financial ruin spirals into suspicion, paranoia, and psychological collapse. Blending escalating dread with the claustrophobia of a crumbling relationship, the film explores the terror of realizing the person beside you may no longer be your partner, but your greatest threat.
Ahead of the premiere of his debut feature, Hoelzel shared, “This film explores how desperation can rot a relationship from the inside out. We were interested in the psychological unraveling — the way fear and greed distort perception until love starts to feel like a trap.”
The ensemble is led by Jesse Garcia (The Odyssey, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip) and Jess Weixler (Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Teeth), alongside Robert Longstreet (The Haunting of Hill House), David Koechner (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy), Sonja O’Hara (Snare), Shakira Barrera (Ironheart), and Mark St. Cyr (The Menu). Additional cast includes Stephen Ellis (Abbott Elementary), Robert Peters (Lincoln), Alexander Cubis (Tyler Perry’s Ruthless) and Keli Price (Murder at Hollow Creek).
Tender is produced by O’Hara (Shudder’s Doomsday), Sofia Rovaletti (Mid-Century), Farrell Ingle, Theo Bucksey, and Roy Hsu (Cheap AF), alongside Grayson Hay, Corey Moosa (Margin Call), David Hopwood (Power), Michael K. Dwyer’s A Group of Ferrets, and Juan Pablo Reinoso’s Firebook Entertainment.
Tender at Dances With Films: LA
TCL Chinese Theatre
Sunday, June 28, 2026
7:30 pm
A Red Carpet will be held on June 28 shortly before the screening. Final details are forthcoming.
After inheriting a modest house in a dying town, Billie and Mick believe they’ve finally found stability, until crushing debt, old resentments, and a shocking discovery buried within their walls threaten to tear them apart. As the couple is forced into a dangerous alliance to protect their future, Tender becomes a darkly intimate portrait of marriage under pressure, where love, money, and survival blur into something grotesque.
Tender: 95 minutes / USA
