Paraistheseis

Leonidas Panonidis

Grèce / 2025 / Fiction / 16’52”I2601228

Paraistheseis
Images Bande annonce

SYNOPSIS

[EN] On a secluded island that feels both timeless but 1980s like, Hallucinations follows Stephano Di Luca, a gay teenager, is violently rejected by his father and beaten by school bullies. Left unconscious on the beach, he escapes into a vivid inner world where he is surrounded by his only friends - Jayden, a boy ostracized by addiction and stigma; and Margy and Rose, Black sisters facing constant racism. When a mysterious new student named Thomas arrives at school, Stephano's fantasy deepens into romantic longing. Paired for a portrait assignment, the two boys begin a tender connection - one that feels too real to be false. Their relationship builds slowly, filled with unspoken vulnerability, until a kiss sparks the illusion of true love. Throughout the film, the story unfolds through a tapestry of voiceovers - from Stephano, his friends, and the enigmatic pink-haired narrator, Myrtw. Myrtw drifts in and out like a ghostly presence, offering poetic reflections that blur time and truth. These layered voices create a fractured lens into Stephano's inner world, where memory, fantasy, and reality dissolve into one another. But as the dream begins to unravel, Stephano wakes up on the beach in the pouring rain - alone, bruised, and heartbroken. The friendships, the love, even Thomas, were hallucinations born from trauma and isolation. Hallucinations is a melancholic, psychological coming-of-age short film exploring the emotional impact of bullying, racism, and queer rejection - and the desperate beauty of imagined escape when reality becomes too much to bear.

GÉNÉRIQUE