THE CASE OF THE VANISHING GODS

a new feature film from the maker of NOTFILM

 

Vanishing

WATCH THE TRAILER

 

Who is the mysterious DOCTOR LABYRINTH,
and who is his tormented AMNESIAC PATIENT?

What is their deeper connection to the ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS?

And why do they all have strings coming out of their heads??

THE ANSWERS LIE IN THE DEPTHS OF

PsychoWard

 

A FICTION / DOC HYBRID EXPLORING THE HOUSE OF MIRRORS
OF OUR UNCONSCIOUS MINDS, AS SEEN IN CLIPS
FROM CLASSIC AND NOT-SO-CLASSIC WORKS OF CINEMA


Disguised as a sci-fi TV series, integrating live actors with vintage and artist-made puppets, The Case of the Vanishing Gods expands the possibility of archival documentary and pushes the essay film into exciting new territory.


The story:

Our host, DOCTOR LABYRINTH encounters a ventriloquist's dummy with a troubled past. Only through the Doctor's most daring efforts can HUGO learn the nature of his troubles -- a process that takes them on a rollercoaster journey through the history of ventriloquism, from the prophetic tradition to the present day.

 

WORLD PREMIERE AUGUST 2021:

Locarno



Featuring DAVID ISAACSON as Doctor Labyrinth

and JEFF DORCHEN (voice) and KARL HERLINGER (controls) as Hugo

Lead Puppeteer: AUDREY DENSMORE

Music by MIHALY VIG

Written, Photographed, Directed and Edited by ROSS LIPMAN

 

"One of the most original essay film artists now working in the U.S. I don't know another body of work even remotely similar to his.”

-- Thom Andersen