Obscure Identity
Short Film
Project Type: Short Film
Project Status: Pre-Production
Director: Sarah Rich
Producer(s): Mackenzie Hamilton, Kelly Campbell, Julie Pacino
“Obscure Identity tells the story of a perceptive yet anxious traveler who finds herself caught in a surreal and unsettling airport encounter. As a mysterious young man and a cryptic shapeshifting woman intrude upon her sense of reality, the narrative examines the fragile boundaries between trust, paranoia, and the ever-thinning veil of human connection in a world dominated by technology.”
LOGLINE
While stuck in the airport waiting for her ride, Margot questions her sanity when a mysterious woman warns her she is being preyed upon by a shapeshifter.
SYNOPSIS
Margot mazes her way through the airport’s biome of distracted travelers, only to receive a text that her ride home is 30 minutes out. She takes a seat next to an old Hispanic woman with a red bag, and burns the minutes away scrolling on her phone. Margot senses someone watching her. A Young Man stares at her from across the room, with a vicious invasive look. She escapes to her phone, and looks back up — he’s gone.
Before she can process the oddity, the Young Man appears in front of her, a smile plastered on his face, and strikes up a conversation about… HOKA shoes. After a series of bizarre comments and insisting on giving her a ride, he leaves her.
Disoriented, she turns to the Hispanic woman next to her, only to find that she is now a 40-year-old white woman… with the same red bag.
The woman confesses she is here to protect Margot from people such as the Young Man, who, with the help of a new technology, is, in fact, a Shapeshifter. Margot, contending with the changing identity of the woman before her, receives a text from her boyfriend that he’s arrived. The woman issues a final warning: Make sure that it’s him; the Young Man can appear in many forms and could still be on to her. As she approaches the car, her head swirls. Is this woman crazy? Is Margot? Or is she just another victim of the thinning veil between reality and conspiracy?
Up until her interaction with the Young Man, Margot is the only character not numbed out by the technologies of our modern era and who is willing to connect with life in front of her. Between her anxiety (a lot will be displayed through POV camera moments) and her astute observations of the world around her, she is vulnerable to any incoming energies – whether good or bad. And her anxiety makes her question if she’s making up what she’s witnessing: a shapeshifting woman who’s also talking about a shapeshifter.
MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT
Our world is sensorially overloaded; screen time is at an all-time high; social media platforms spread information faster than a government can push “the red button.” Conspiracy theories spawn in the breeding grounds of online forums, and are then proudly paraded on one’s political sleeve. In this overwhelming era of virtual information, there is a concerning detachment from our physical reality. Our ability to discern what is true becomes increasingly obscured.
These societal changes are happening so rapidly that humankind is forced into a trauma response — our rate of adaptation can’t keep up with the acceleration of our new environment and its threats. We “freeze,” go into “flight mode,” and seek comfort in our screens. And while this pandemic of disassociation infects and degenerates our species, Artificial Intelligence tirelessly polishes its super-human capabilities at an alarming rate.
If our default reaction to external fear and stimuli is escaping into the virtual world, what happens to our natural equilibrium, health, and survival instincts? Our five primal senses are quickly becoming antiquated…
Will our guttural sense of “the uncanny valley” be our greatest resource? Or will that muscle be too underdeveloped from our lack of connection to our own bodies?
Are we doomed to be the perfect prey?
This story happened to me, and whenever I talk about it, I feel insane. But I am aware of society’s exponential technological advancements, I have experienced unexplainable happenings and man, I love twisted thrillers – I want to take people on the ride.
Meet The Filmmakers
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Sarah Rich
Director
Sarah Rich is an actor, writer, producer, and upcoming director. As an actor, she has starred in television shows such as Chicago PD, Orange is the New Black, Blacklist, Law and Order: SVU; and has played leading roles in feature films such as Netflix’s Purple Hearts; #Like on Amazon Prime; and Julie Pacino’s debut feature film I Live Here Now, which will be distributed by Utopia.
During the Covid Pandemic, Sarah took advantage of the free time and started churning out her own scripts and developing projects with other eager multiple-hat wearing filmmakers. It’s been a great joy for her to have the space to hone in her skills behind the camera, have more autonomy as an artist, and get to enjoy the whole process of filmmaking with like minded wonderful people.
Most recently Produced and Assisted Directed on the short film That Old Black Magic directed by Alan Trinca – a recipient of the AGBO/Russo Brothers Italian American Filmmaker Forum Grant.
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Mackenzie Hamilton
Producer
Mackenzie Hamilton is a Los Angeles-based writer, producer, and director. Earlier this year, she wrote and directed her debut short film, Into the Stand, filmed on location in her hometown on Vancouver Island, Canada.
Mackenzie is also the Managing Editor and a founding member of Cero Collective, a New York-based arts and culture nonprofit dedicated to supporting artists and sustaining creative communities in the city. As a writer, she has contributed to The Last Magazine and The Broadsheet. She regularly writes for Cero Magazine, where she profiles a diverse range of figures, from actors and activists to directors and other cultural influencers.
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Kelly Campbell
Producer
Kelly Campbell is a film producer, writer, and entrepreneur based out of Asheville, NC. She graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy, received her MFA from the Asolo Repertory Conservatory, BA from Kalamazoo College, and extended mentorship during her theater and film career in NYC. Campbell volunteers her time with NICU centers for infants with NAS, and is a widely respected astrologer and poet whose work is shared globally.
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Julie Pacino
Co-Producer
Julie Pacino is a lifelong film aficionado, having served as a filmmaker, producer and professional photographer for the entirety of her career.
Julie has written, directed, and produced several award-winning short films which have been showcased at many festivals, including Tribeca Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, HollyShorts film festival, and Soho Film festival.
She produced "Hidden Blueprints", a documentary which brought former inmates back to a prison to reenact the circumstances around a 2004 prison riot. "Hidden Blueprints" has won several awards at various festivals around the world, including Santa Barbara International Film Festival and Cleveland International Film Festival.
Julie also worked as a producer on the sold-out Off-Broadway production "Phoenix", starring Julia Stiles at The Cherry Lane Theatre in Manhattan.
Julie is currently in post-production on her feature film directorial debut ‘I Live Here Now’, a co-production with Robert Schwartzman’s Utopia.
In addition to her film endeavors, Julie is a photographer and has led the creative direction for several brand campaigns, most recently for AllSaints and ShoePalace. Her photography was chosen by TIME Magazine as part of the Publication’s famous TIMEPieces “Build a Better Future: Genesis” collection. Most recently Julie had the privilege of showcasing her photographs in an exhibition called "Broad Strokes II" at the Leica gallery in Beverly Hills.
Julie is represented by CAA.
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Luke Pengelly
Cinematographer
Luke Pengelly is a British Cinematographer currently working out of Los Angeles. He began his training as an actor and is a proud graduate of the NYU Tisch Drama program. Luke began working behind the Camera and in the Electric department, having worked on numerous short films, commercials, music videos and TV shows, including DAVE (FX) and the upcoming film OPUS (A24).
He feels his background as an actor uniquely positions him to approach each film through the lens of character, world building, and elevating the nuance of an actor's performance in service of the story
Your Help
OBSCURE IDENTITY is a fiscally sponsored project of Cinematography for Actors, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your donation will be tax-deductible!