Miles away

LOGLINE

After a lightning strike leaves a photographer trapped in a surreal underworld, he takes a job photographing an immersive theatre troupe while confronting dark forces determined to keep him from returning to the living.

Synopsis

When Miles Monroe, a photographer obsessed with the perfect image, loses a big job, he makes a dangerous choice, and a rooftop lightning strike lands him in the surreal underworld of Esoterica. The magazine editor, Ackerman, offers Miles a way back to the living: embed with theatre director Leonora Moon and the Rogue Muses, and find his Eye of Eyes, a new way of seeing that lets flaws reveal truth. If he fails, the crooked heart burned into his wrist goes black. The Second Death.

Miles dives into the work and Leonora’s play about the Myth of Osiris becomes a mirror into his world, a heart weighed against a feather. But the mystery of Esoterica keeps bending around him and Miles struggles to gain his bearings. Leonora is both a guide and a riddle. As their relationship deepens, she tends his wound, challenges his instincts, pulls him close. The menacing Jones lurks, and Miles chases visions appearing in his photos. With the deadline upon him, Miles delivers a set of beautiful images, but Ackerman fires him, claiming he didn’t complete the assignment. That hits him like a gut punch, and he realizes the assignment isn’t Leonora, it’s him.

With time running out, Miles heads back to the theatre and convinces Leonora to hand over her keys and help him find the elusive mausoleum. Blocked by Jones, Miles must fight his way through to unlock the door. Under the shadow of the Jackal God, Miles faces his fears, accepts his flaws and learns to let go of control. As he finds his Eye of Eyes, his mother’s voice cuts through the noise.

He wakes in a hospital, alive but changed. Back at his childhood home, Miles moves into the barn studio and trades perfect photos for hand-built puppets and jangly stop-motion films, finally directing stories that embrace the flaws he once tried to erase.

TEAM BIOs

WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER - MICHAEL LAVINE is an award-winning filmmaker and acclaimed photographer, known for visually compelling narratives and striking imagery. His latest short film, The Wanderer, a gothic noir fantasy starring Alice Kremelberg, is currently on its festival run, including a prestigious screening at the 72nd Sydney Film Festival in June 2025. Michael has devoted recent years to creating The Dark Odyssey, an acclaimed series of metaphysical sci-fi stop-motion animated shorts screened at over 100 festivals worldwide. Alongside his filmmaking, he has authored multiple feature-length screenplays. Earlier in his career, Michael became internationally renowned as a rock photographer, capturing iconic portraits of musicians such as Kurt Cobain, Notorious B.I.G., and Cher. His influential photography books, Noise from the Underground (Simon & Schuster)—featuring bands like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and Soundgarden—and GRUNGE (Abrams), documenting Seattle’s punk scene of the 1980s, remain essential visual chronicles of the era. Michael resides in New York’s Hudson Valley.

CASTING DIRECTOR - LOIS DRABKIN is a Casting Director who has worked extensively on a range of projects, most notably in independent film, including: the Sundance premieres NANCY, LISTEN UP PHILIP, RESTLESS CITY, NIGHT CATCHES US, and THE MISSING PERSON; the Independent Spirit Award acting-nominated features COLEWELL (Karen Allen), NANCY (J. Smith Cameron) and GLASS CHIN (Marin Ireland); and the future releases of Indiewire Young Filmmaker to Watch Jack Fessenden’s FOXHOLE, and FARAWAY EYES, with Christina Ricci and Andy Karl. Additional credits include the first season of the Emmy-winning Showtime documentary series investigating climate change, YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, and as part of the casting teams for Steven Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS, the acclaimed HBO series THE WIRE, and Michael Mann’s PUBLIC ENEMIES. A member of the Casting Society of America, Lois has been nominated for five Artios Awards for Outstanding Casting.

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY - GUS ARONSON is a photographer and filmmaker based out of Chinatown, NY. Embracing ambiguous narrative and vivid color as tools to push against ideas of the document, Gus rejects the notion that photographs are purely evidence of a time past. He explores how photographs can rather function as tarot cards: relics of the past and roadmaps for the future. He has been commissioned by Aperture, the New York Times, INTERVIEW, Cultured, New York Magazine, the Cut, Elle, and Aperture Magazine, and was part of the Aperture Summer Open 2020 "Information" show at Fotografiska, NY. His Films, and those that he's shot, have premiered with the Mill Valley Film Festival, MoMA’s Doc Fortnight, the Hammer Museum, the Independent of Film Festival of Boston, NoBudge Live, Film Shortage, and more. He is also a founding member and the DP for filmsecession.com an online film museum launched in 2024.

PRODUCTION DESIGNER - THEO WEBB is a production designer and filmmaker from New York. As a designer, he is interested in creating hyper-detailed and dynamic spaces, in which the sets become characters of their own. He draws inspiration from Macgyvered-contraptions found in worlds like Wallace & Gromit, Mr. Bean and the films of Jacques Tati. Outside of film, Theo loves to canoe and document his trips on Super8. He enjoys cooking and finds that he does his best thinking while chopping vegetables.