A grandfather and curio shop owner in a small town in Arizona and his granddaughter are transported to a mystical land through a portal stone and have to find their way back.
Written by the director himself, the story revolves around an “absent” hero: an astronaut lost in the emptiness of space. His absence is spoken about indirectly here, from planet Earth. He was the nation’s son, loved and admired by all. But he’s primarily always on the mind of his little sister Elsa, who’s the real “fully present” heroine in this story. Elsa has lived her life and her childhood by proxy, sustaining herself off the dreams and ambitions of her older brother and hero. He was her point of reference and her daily inspiration. While he floats around, somewhere up there, in the ether, Elsa also drifts, right here on Earth…
Avery is an unadventurous schoolteacher whose sister secretly signs her up for The Great Holiday Dash, a Christmas-themed reality competition show where she's paired with former hockey player Wes. Despite clashing at first, Avery's puzzle-solving skills and Wes' physical prowess help them excel as they travel from city to city and compete in festive feats that have a local flavor. It's not long before a real connection between these opposites begins to blossom. But when Avery overhears a conversation between Wes and a show producer it threatens to derail their budding romance. Keeping their eyes on the prize, the duo continues to dash to the finish line but there may be a more personal adventure for them still in store.
20-something Aden has no other ambition in life than to become an actor. Most of his time is spent making videos as he applies for roles he’ll never get. After a string of dreadful auditions, where bizarre and humiliating requests are made of him, he comes up with a radical move: he will take full responsibility for finding a role that primarily he, himself, wants to play. This self-assured debut, playful in form and narrative with a fairy-tale edge to it, examines both the commercial work ethic and the concept of identity, which it presents as multilayered and also questionable. At the same time, in its exploration of the given themes, the film doesn’t deny itself a socio-critical tone, nor does it resist the temptation to tease the viewer a little.
