Logline: Amid a dying grandfather's final days, a father and son navigate their house filled with fragmented memories, quiet mundane moments, and uncanny ghostly occurrences.
Synopsis: The film follows Theo, a 10-year-old boy, and his father, Spud, as they process the final days of the ailing grandfather's life. Throughout the film Theo navigates the emotional landscape of the impending loss within his family as Spud wrestles with his own reflections on aging, loss, and the passage of time while seemingly mundane and strange events occur. The film ends with Spud and Theo falling asleep together in the backyard after the grandfather's death. Their breaths become synchronized as they sleep and the image fades to black.
Directors Statement: "Memories of a Dream" is a meditation on grief and the quiet complexities of losing a loved one, explored through the lens of everyday moments.
I lost my father around the same age that Theo is in the film. Though Theo loses his grandfather instead of his father, the story still resonates deeply with my personal experience towards death. At such a young age, it’s difficult to comprehend the reality of loss. Through this film, I want to explore how a child processes grief and the ways they express themselves during a time of losing a loved one.
Throughout the film, uncanny elements will exist in the periphery, much like the presence of grief itself. By juxtaposing these uncanny moments and the mundane, I hope to create a sensory experience that mirrors the surreal nature of loss. When we face mortality, the world can feel disorienting, as if time and space have shifted. Yet during a time of loss life persists in its ordinariness: a bowl of soup, a dog’s quiet companionship, the wind rolling through a backyard. These seemingly trivial moments take on new significance and depth, becoming more meaningful than they first appear.
Through static compositions and rhythmic editing, my goal is for the environment to speak as loudly as the characters. I want the film to play with sensory elements in a way that blurs the line between reality, memory and the liminal space. The film will be presented in black and white to enhance the feeling of existing between consciousness and unconsciousness, stripping the world down to light and shadow.