Magic Lantern

Mitch is a 22 year-old projectionist who is loading the last film for the final screening at a small theatre that is about to be converted into a digital cineplex. He dreads loading this last film reel into the projector because he knows it will drag him into yet another desperate search for love now lost. He gazes through the small projection window, onto the flickering light of the screen and then somehow farther, into another world; a world that is his and his alone. He sees another version of himself on the screen, where he works at a small, fading thrift shop. He leads a lonely existence, with only his curmudgeonly boss and the store's mannequins for company. This monotonous life is broken by the arrival of a beautiful, otherworldly young girl in search of the perfect hat. She and Mitch share a brief and inexpressible moment of connection, interrupted by a phone call that drags her away. When Mitch tries to follow her, she has vanished. All that remains is her cell phone on the sidewalk, which seems to call out to him. Mitch picks it up and embarks on a journey of love and obsession that takes him through dream, reality and cinema as he struggles to find the mysterious girl.