PARATHEATRICAL RESEARCH and VERTICAL POOL
presents
an Antero Alli film
(2008; 111 min. USA. Super-8 film, HDV. Color)
One man's journey through madness and unexpected transcendence.
NO SCREENINGS SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME
DVD NOW AVAILABLE
(this site updated JULY 18)
SYNOPSIS
A theatre troupe camps out in a forest to enact their director's vision of French Surrealist Antonin Artaud's magic theatre of ghosts, gods and spirits. During their forest experiment Alex (Antero Alli), their director, is haunted by a reoccurring nightmare where the spirit of Artaud (Clody Cates) appears and mocks his ambitions. As these strange dreams persist Alex's sanity is pushed to its outer limits. He seeks professional help from a Therapist who suggests hypnotic regression as a means to restore his peace of mind. Under hypnosis Alex traverses the internal landscape of the Unconscious, a labyrinth of dreams and memories not entirely his own, towards a final encounter with the Archetype of his disturbance.
"Cinema is a drug. If some movies put us to sleep like tranquilizers and others jack us up like triple espressos, The Invisible Forest is a 100% organic, user-friendly hallucinogen". -- ANTERO ALLI
>>THE TRAILER (3 minutes)
>> EXCERPT FROM THE FILM (4 minutes)
Filmmaker Interview
by Juanita Benedicto. April 29, '08.
REVIEWS, CAST & CREW, FILM STILLS, ANTONIN ARTAUD
JAMES L. WAGNER as "Hermes, the Dream Ego "
"Forests embody threshold spaces where we encounter the spirits of nature as well as ghosts of the psychic, para-spiritual world. It is here in the forest that Alli’s dreamstory begins and winds itself through a rich tapestry of labyrinthine dreams within dreams, dreams that eventually carry us through to the shattering and regenerative conclusion of Alli’s cinematic opus." - FILM REVIEW by Cedrus Monte, PhD. Jungian Analyst, Zurich Switzerland.
JESSICA BOCKLER as "Miranda"
THE CAST, THE CREW, FILM STILLS
The onscreen presence of Alli makes this film particularly special, especially during the long shots that capture largely improvised conversations between Alex and a somewhat smarmy but effective hypnotherapist played by Garret Dailey. Alli’s Alex is enigmatic, sardonic, arrogant, insightful, joyful—an unpretentious but still portentous portrait of the sort of irascible, multidimensional artist who is not content to make myths but to provoke the nameless forces behind myth, and to bid them intrude. -- FILM REVIEW by Erik Davis, author, "TechGnosis"
ANTONIN ARTAUD (1896 - 1948); (click image for bio)
"If our life lacks a constant magic, it is because we choose to observe our acts and lose ourselves in consideration of their imagined form instead of being impelled by their force. No matter how loudly we clamor for magic in our lives, we are really afraid of pursuing an existence entirely under its influence and sign." -- Antonin Artaud
ARTAUD ON THE "THEATRE OF CRUELTY"
from 'The Theatre and Its Double'
MP3 "ARRIVAL"
from the CD, A Hundred Birds by Sylvi Alli
as featured in the film, "The Invisible Forest"
Director's Blog, Filmography, DVD, Contacts
DIRECTOR'S BLOG
behind the scenes; updated 6/24/08
VISION STATEMENT
"why i make films"
FILMOGRAPHY
completed works; w/trailers
ANTERO @ I.M.Db
Internet Movie Database
PRODUCER BIOS
Sylvi Alli and Antero Alli
>> BUY THE DVD<<
only from the filmmaker
VERTICAL POOL
PO BOX 7518 Berkeley CA USA 94707
vox: (510) 464-4640
e-mail the director