Synopsis: Lindsay is an abscess human laying within a margin only few of us would understand and she is changing. It is this change and the threat she feels it presents that catalyzes her decision of self-imprisonment. Equipped with only the bare essentials for survival and a camera to record the artifact of her struggle, which becomes a literal video diary of her battle with something larger and potentially greater than herself.
“Movies are regarded in the sequence of Mythology, Stories and Drama, as expressions of often obscure fantasies in the people among whom they are produced and diffused.” -Martha Wolfenstein and Nathan Leites. From “Movies: A Psychological Study”.
Lindsay the Alchemist is a 20 Minute exploration of a disease. Developed through a combination of medical, theoretical and heuristic research. With a lot of attention placed on the character and themes of isolation. The medical research was organized around symptoms of Schizophrenia. The symptoms and disease pattern the films narrative, as a kind of fictionalized case study is transposed into film. The sole character (Lindsay) is designed without application of our most common assumptions of gender, mental illness, sexual orientation and ethnicity. The ambition of this being to disseminate a compelling character story without perpetuating and condoning the misrepresentation of abject people through the continued marginalization and defamation of the individuals circumstance. Lindsay, is an undifferentiated Schizophrenic, this is the foundation for every movement throughout the film. Each scene constructed around how the character reinforces the Schizophrenic’s primary conflict (the core delusion or hallucination in which the Schizophrenic combats), with dialogue and incident contextualized through the variety of symptoms of Schizophrenia (i.e. disorganized thought, speech and behaviour; Alogia, avolition and social dysfunction)

Lindsay the Alchemist is a short film I wrote, shot, edited, directed and wrote music for. I know that seems like a lot. Part of the benefits of going to an art school is that through necessity you develop the habit of doing everything on your own. And by doing so, you get to dramatically expand your skill set. Lindsay the Alchemist is the marriage of all these acquired skills. By the same token, it’s the first time I was able to work with a professional actor in a collaborative and immersive way to really bring the character to life. So, I didn’t do everything myself.

This is a teaser trailer for the film.