5 short films, from 5 directors and 4 different countries on the theme of the Alter-Ego. The "Alter Ego Film Project" is inspired by the spirit of Maya Deren and her way of making films. Between double personality, secret identity, doppelgänger and impossible love we have discovered several unconventional stories halfway between narrative and experimental.
Lydia GervásGreta (Segment « Autofocus »)
Fernandez LermaCosme (Segment « Autofocus »)Carlos TejedaGreta’s friend (Segment « Autofocus »)
Marta TimónGreta’s friend (Segment « Autofocus »)Marta VillarrealGreta’s friend (Segment « Autofocus »)
Hilary Bowen-WalshHare (Segment « ALICE + HARE »)
Nóra Ni Anluain FayMad Hatter (Segment « ALICE + HARE »)
Brian F. DevaneyCaterpillar (Segment « ALICE + HARE »)
Senna O'HaraAlice (Segment « ALICE + HARE »)
Daniel ZanderThe Scryer (Segment « Scrying Session #1 »)
Mateo, a young Mexican man, embarks on a pilgrimage through Spain to confront his past, but becomes entangled in a dangerous Catholic cult where forbidden love threatens his very survival.
With input from actor and writer Jan Hlobil, director and cinematographer Rene Smaal presents a film in the true surrealist tradition, in the sense that only 'found' elements were used, and that it defies interpretation based on ordinary cause-and-effect time sequence.
A visual of FAO agreeing with the voices in his head
This film is about what the routine of everyday life can do to the human mind and psyche. It also reflects on the importance of the choices we make and how limited these choices are in the first place. The plot evolves around a family of four. They live in the suburbs, in a strange villa that appears, through a complex game of mirrors, to be more like a piece of installation art than a real house. The main character, who hardly appears on screen, is the son, a man in his thirties. Suffering from asthma and eczema since childhood, he uses his condition to manipulate his parents and his sister. Thus the existence of the terrorized family turns into an endless ritual of attempting to satisfy his whims, and always on the alert for yet another one of his “health crises”. Las Meninas resembles the scattered pieces of a puzzle. It is up to the viewer to assemble them in order to form his very own picture – something that makes the film itself personal and unique.
Longtime friends, Mehdi and Hamid, work for a collection agency. They crisscross the villages of southern Morocco in their old car and share double rooms in shabby hotels. They are exactly the same size, and wear the same suits and ties, as well as the same shoes. Paid nearly nothing, they try to play hard to make good figures. One day, in a gas station planted in the middle of the desert, a motorcycle parks in front of them. A man is handcuffed to the luggage rack, threatening. It’s the Evader. Their meeting marks the beginning of an unforeseen and mystical journey.
A faithless pastor is haunted by the sins of his past during a single night in the sanctuary.
Karma, an international high school student from Sikkim struggles to fit in and hold onto his cultural identity when he is stuck at home with his host sibling, Alex.
Gordon discovers that his girlfriend's dog isn't quite what she says it is.
Mrs. Géquil is an eccentric teacher despised by her colleagues and students. On a stormy night, she is struck by lightning and faints. When she wakes up, she feels different. Will she now be able to keep the powerful and dangerous Mrs. Hyde contained?
Fleeing New York City, a failed marriage and a fragile mental history, artist Robert Forrester moves to small-town Pennsylvania. There he becomes fascinated with the simple domesticity of a beautiful neighbor, watching her through the windows of her home --- until she invites him in for coffee. He is drawn into a relationship with the young woman whose boyfriend goes missing; Robert becomes a murder suspect, gradually sensing he is the target of a larger plot.
After a catastrophic global war, a young filmmaker awakens in the carnage and seeks refuge in the only other survivor: an eccentric, ideologically opposed figure of the United States military. Together, they brave the toxic landscape in search of safety... and answers.
Having lived illegally in Canada for the past eight years, Danny Gallagher returns to his family home in rural Donegal. He spends his days isolated, seeking to make sense of the bruises left by his past by recording an audio tape for a person that he no longer knows. Only when the tape is finished, and the house is cleared, can he finally move on.
A barber fantasizes about killing his customers after hearing them complain about the world.
One evening, a young man, not so different from you, hears about a strange substance capable of giving him control over his dreams. He then decides to abandon his real life for this new world. The consequences of this drug use soon become apparent: a battle against his darkest desires.
Marta, a young girl, finds herself locked in a library at night. The books begin to come to life and the real and the unreal merge.
Porky Pig has an adventure in Wackyland while searching for the last Do-Do bird.
Events take a sinister turn one night in London, when two very different couples arrive at a double-booked apartment. Actions have consequences and not all debts are paid for with money. Leaving, it's harder than you think.
A struggling drug addict is plunged into a tortured netherworld, where he must defend his spirit from a ravenous horde of soul-addicted junkies.
Famed architect Jeremy Angust is approached on his trip to the Paris Airport by a chatty girl named Texel Textor who needs a ride. He obliges and after they part ways at the airport entrance, he misses his flight. As he settles in the lounge, he encounters the mysterious young Texel again, who insists on telling her strange story — and the conversation grows stranger and more twisted until it turns sinister and deadly.