Daniel’s existence carries shadows from the past in form of queer flashes in his dreams. Dan’s phatasomogaria of opulence and serenity with his lovely wife enters doldurms when mischevoius Max is introduced to Daniel. The circumstances trigger a concoction of desire and guilt in Daniel who eventually rummages through his nightmares to introspect his sexuality. Survival turns into a mirage, as Daniel finds himself muddled between homosexuality and pedophilia.
Director Biography - Sandeep Rampal Balhara
Sandeep Rampal Balhara is a Film Director, Screenwriter and Editor, born on November 23, 1978 in New Delhi India. After a fruitful career of 12 years in Indian Television, he left India to study Film Direction at The Lodz Film School in Poland.
CottonDreams, his second year documentary project at Film School, is an emphatic portrayal of a family enduring the world’s largest agrarian crisis in rural India. The 15-minute film that was shot in India during the Monsoon rains of 2013, acclaimed more than 25 international awards and special mentions; and has been screened at over 90 film festivals across the globe.
Director Statement
Daniel lost his innocence at 11, to an older man, and to his utter surprise, he enjoyed the physical part of it somehow. Who knows, He could have been a natural homosexual but this touch left him with disoriented sexuality for the rest of his life. A beautiful loving wife to camouflage among the normal people but queer fantasies, homosexual vibes and wet dreams continue to play hide and seek with his guilt and desire. The trauma and the pleasure stay conjoined to this character’s sexistansialism.
The duality of nature has always intrigued me personally and I try to experiment with sexual elements and their effects in human beings through most of my fictional work. Another element is the Childhood, in my opinion, it carries a lot of potential for uncovering the psyche behind the adult. So, here I used elements from my own childhood and social observations. The urban high middle class setting with a young couple is selected for this contemporary drama which enables us to exemplify the superficial charms people use to fill up their hollowness with. Daniel’s use of dialogues were kept to bare minimum, mounting some kind of pressure on him which keeps increasing till he opens up his heart for once in the monologue. The use of dog metaphor enables our character’s sexual identity to continue his life under the mask in this vicious cycle.
Depicting this duality visually led to the idea of creating isolated worlds around the main character as his sudden solitary drifts juxtaposed with quick hustle bustle of his external world. The warm inner world in which he only stores his intimate fantasies and secretive desires, was filmed with long lens in the same barn setting where he experienced desire for the first time. Snap edits at constant intervals were used to subliminally suggest the disoriented state of the character. For music, the Clarinet is used to resonate with the loneliness of the lead.
Credits
Sandeep Rampal Balhara Director CottonDreams, Absinthe, Kaźń
Sandeep Rampal Balhara Writer
Lodz Film School Producer
Sebastian Jasnoch Key Cast
Michalina Sosna Key Cast
Michał Kruk Key Cast
Specifications
Project Title (Original Language): Wszystko w porządku
Project Type: Short, Student
Runtime: 26 minutes 45 seconds
Completion Date: October 5, 2015
Country of Origin: Poland
Country of Filming: Poland
Language: Polish
Shooting Format: ARRI Alexa
Aspect Ratio: 2.35
Film Color: Color
First-time Filmmaker: No
Student Project: Yes
