The Strange Performances at the Church

14 minutes · 2026

A short film by Ray Smiling

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PREVO is where independent short films premiere. Your first month is free, and The Strange Performances at the Church is waiting in it Thursday at 8 AM ET.

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Free for a month with code CHURCHWAIT, then $5.99 a month. Cancel any time.

Watch it free.

PREVO is where independent short films premiere. Your first month is free, and The Strange Performances at the Church is 14 minutes of it.

Watch Strange Performances free Code CHURCH

Code CHURCH applies for you: one free month, then $5.99 a month. Cancel any time. Already a member? Watch it here.

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Your free month does something.

Every person who joins through this page moves The Strange Performances at the Church up the ladder below. Know Ray? This is how you show up. Found the film five minutes ago? You count exactly the same.

The turnout

4 people have saved their seats.4 people have turned out for The Strange Performances at the Church.

6 more for the Crew passes.

10Crew passesEveryone credited on The Strange Performances at the Church gets their own free month of PREVO to hand out, and the cast and crew get access to Filmmakers Academy, the film school co-founded by cinematographer Shane Hurlbut, ASC.

25Weekend Read SpotlightThe Strange Performances at the Church gets its own piece in The Weekend Read, PREVO's weekly film magazine.

50Behind the ScenesRay sits for a Behind the Scenes interview, published and promoted.

100PREVO PROVENThe film earns the PREVO Proven laurel, permanently.

+ 4 more

PREVO Proven – one hundred people. Subscribers who joined through this film, plus members who watched it and left a Note. One person counts once, and nothing else counts at all.

First names only. Email prevo@prevostreaming.com to be left off.

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The story

Maeve is scheduled to perform her new album “4 the Girls” on a livestream from The Church. This is a big deal. The girls are, shall we say, excited.

Ninety minutes before the show, Maeve will cancel. This is very bad. Tears will be shed. Families will be torn apart. Spells will be cast.

But the girls will have a field day.

From Ray’s poster for the film

Save your seat Watch Strange Performances free

14 minutes. Free with your first month.

The director

Ray Smiling

Writer, director, creative director

Named Ad Age’s Director to Watch for 2023.
Behind campaigns for Adidas, Beats by Dre, the NBA, Under Armour, McDonald’s and UFC x Project Rock.
His short Play This At My Funeral, a triptych about the moment a song becomes your song, played the Cleveland International Film Festival.
A fan, in his own words, of sports, the rituals of subculture, weird music, absurdism and outsiders.