Dark Descent

Is anyone capable of taking another person's life? This is the question raised in First Kill, Coco Schrijber's feature documentary about war and the dark side of humanity, which premieres at the IDFA in November. It's a complex issue for a complex film, and Schrijber doesn't try to paint it in black and white terms. 'I wanted to make a film in which slowly, towards the end, you feel that there's no way of knowing if you would pull the trigger or not,' she says. 'Most people say they are convinced they would never do that. My main goal was to confuse the viewer, so he wouldn't be so certain anymore of what he would do.'