THE MISSING SUN
dir. Brennan Vance, 2017
79 mins. USA.

FRIDAY MAY 4- 7:30 PM
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THE MISSING SUN is a metaphysical drama surrounding characters experiencing various out-of-body states. At the heart of the film is Alma – a no-nonsense, weather-worn ex-addict with failing health. Her world is thrown out of orbit when her husband Terry falls into a mysterious coma shortly after a solar flare powers down her remote community. When she finds a clue amongst Terry’s belongings – an instructional audio cassette on how to astral travel – she becomes convinced that Terry is using this esoteric technique to reunite with the spirit of his deceased ex-wife, Joy.

In hopes to bring Terry back to reality, Alma seeks some astral knowledge of her own by finding the audio tape’s author – the leader of a new-age community called Bhu’JanTi. Unable to find immediate answers there, Alma tracks down Terry’s estranged son, ad, who is found hiding out at Joy’s house. Surrounded by a group of philosophically curious but drug-addled friends, ad suffers his mother’s recent death in a state of disabling grief, the effects of which he drowns out with heavy quaaludes. With ad appearing as unresponsive as his father, Alma realizes she must reckon with these increasingly absurd circumstances alone. And as her health continues to fail and she begins to have visions of a hallucinatory doppelganger, Alma begins to wonder if she is still inside of herself – or if she has been in the process of leaving her body the whole time.

BRENNAN VANCE is a Minneapolis-based filmmaker and 2017 McKnight Media Arts Fellow. Vance’s feature directorial debut THE MISSING SUN received a Jerome Foundation fellowship, was selected as part of the 2016 IFP Filmmaker Narrative Labs and recently premiered at the Wisconsin Film Festival and Ashland Independent Film Festival, where it was awarded a special jury prize. His work as a Director of Photography for Twin Cities PBS has earned him three Emmy Awards.