After sweeping major awards across the international festival circuit—including Best Picture wins at the National Black Film Festival, the Toronto International Nigerian Film Festival, the Canadian Black Screen Awards, and the International Black and Diversity Film Festival—the new thriller Sway is finally available on all major streaming platforms. Lauded for its gripping narrative, bold visual style, and commanding performances, the film has fast emerged as a global standout.
Sway immerses viewers in a real-time psychological freefall as it follows a respected Black community leader whose meticulously structured life unravels in a single day. When his brother mysteriously disappears, cracks in his controlled world begin to spread. Within hours, he is blackmailed by a stranger, implicated in a murder, and forced to confront the limits of his morality as he fights to protect the people he loves.
Written and co-directed by Charlie Hamilton, alongside co-director Zachary Ramelan, Sway explores the razor-thin line between stability and collapse. Its “compressed time” structure—unfolding over one chaotic, high-stakes day—has long been a hallmark of Hamilton’s storytelling. “Most of my stories work best when we can follow a unique character through a messy odyssey,” Hamilton says. “I like sweeping the audience up in a wave of something unique and new, and carrying them miles downstream before the credits roll.”
The film’s festival journey has been equally impressive, earning widespread acclaim for Emmanuel Kabongo’s intense, deeply layered performance. Kabongo has received multiple Best Actor awards, including honors from the Toronto International Nigerian Film Festival, Hollywood North Film Awards, Canadian Black Screen Awards, International Black and Diversity Film Festival, and The Black Film Summit in Chicago.
Sway also stars Emmy Award Winner Mishael Morgan, Canadian Screen Award winners Lovell Adams-Gray and Brittany Raymond and Canadian Screen Award nominee Paul Amos.
Visually and emotionally, the film mirrors its protagonist’s unraveling psyche. “We lit, shot, and scored the film in sync with Sway’s emotional state,” Hamilton notes. The team leaned into horror-inspired sound design to pull audiences into more unsettling terrain. “There’s something dark that happens when you’re watching a drama and suddenly the score turns horror,” he adds.
A key line in the film (“The secret to lying is including as much of the truth as possible”) served as an early compass for the filmmakers, guiding the story’s slippery relationship with reality. Hamilton and Ramelan resisted simple archetypes, opting instead for a morally murky world where every character operates in shades of gray.
For Hamilton and Ramelan, both first-time feature filmmakers, Sway represents a debut shaped by risk, instinct, and deep creative trust. “Charlie anchored us in story and character while I explored the film as a first-time viewer,” Ramelan says. “We filled each other’s blind spots.”
Asked what lesson they’ll carry into their next project, Hamilton laughs: “Have financing figured out before post-production.”
Sway is streaming now on all major platforms.