DIORAMA

Who are we – when nobody is watching? What are our fantasies and phobias – if we don’t share them? After many years in a protected psychiatric community, Alberto (40) comes to stay with Vicky’s (12) family. As a vulnerable adult, Alberto divides his time between his old therapeutic community and his work, adapting to the rhythms and boundaries of his new ‘home’. Alberto silently tries to escape his pharmacological therapy by not taking his pills. For years, they have helped him control his “demons”, but they have also overshadowed his instincts and emotions. Vicky loves science fiction and is very different from her peers. In her world, alien, distant planets are something to discover. Vicky notices that Alberto hides his pills at the dinner table, so Alberto shares this secret for the first time. From this moment on, their bond grows stronger. Alberto works part-time at a place that collects old PCs and electronics, recovering and recycling them. Here, he secretly saves private images and video files on his own hard drive, glimpses of other people’s lives that become Alberto’s personal “social network”, making him feel less alone. Vicky shares her studies of the neighboring mountain with him, the summit of Mount Musiné, which she considers as magical. As Vicky’s storytelling supports Alberto in his quiet revolt, she and the mountain will lead him to confront reality, and perhaps for the last time, the ghosts that were buried by his state of chemical numbness for so many years - starting from the horizon that he would like to, but cannot, cross. Can their friendship of reality and fantasy co-exist, without posing true danger to both Alberto and Vicky?