The Shadow of the Shadow

A young woman opens her eyes in the real world for the very first time, and nothing about it feels safe. She is frightened of stepping outside and just as frightened of falling asleep, because sleep carries her into a deeper layer of herself, a shadowy inner realm where the fears and desires she cannot face while awake take shape. Directed by Béatrice Steimer and starring Paula Luna and Thea Steimer, this fifteen-minute German short is an experimental, dreamlike drama that treats identity as a series of selves nested inside one another, each one casting a shadow over the next. Spare in dialogue and rich in atmosphere, The Shadow of the Shadow asks what it means to truly arrive in one's own life, and how much courage it takes to keep going when the line between dream and waking refuses to stay still.