(Manic)quin
2022 · 14m · USA
Directed by Lauren Ebner
Genres: dark comedy, drama, romance
Tones: absurdist, melancholic
Viva drifts through life in Atlantic City, clinging to an inherited beach house and a precarious hotel job. When a mannequin falls off a truck, she becomes fixated on returning it, seeing herself reflected in its vacant expression—and refusing to accept that it's worthless.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Atlantic City seediness, a fallen mannequin as the protagonist's broken mirror — Crystal Swan and Florida Project as the comps is actually doing the work. Curious.
Ebner deploys the mannequin-as-mirror conceit through Atlantic City seediness, naming Tangerine and Florida Project as touchstones — the ambition is right but the Klipist tag taxonomy ('quirky, thought-provoking, visual') signals festival circuit rather than serious craft.
Klipist 14-minute piece tagged "quirky / thought-provoking / visual," content rating notes some nudity. Atlantic City + mannequin-as-mirror is a workable indie hook, but the page surfaces no festival or craft markers that confirm execution.
Festivals
- HollyShorts Film Festival 2022