RETURNING HOME - SHORT FILM
-COMPLETED-
"Closure isn’t given. It’s claimed, when we return home."
ABOUT
"Returning Home" is an experimental psychological drama. It draws from elements of surreal fiction and narrative poetry to explore emotional breakdown and identity fragmentation.
The film blurs the line between inner dialogue and visual metaphor, creating a dreamlike atmosphere where memory, grief, and unresolved love all coexist.
Built with minimalism in space but depth in feeling, it challenges viewers to witness the internal storms that rarely find words. Through symbolism, fourth-wall breaks, and performance-based imagery, it offers a raw portrayal of mental health and emotional reentry into self.
Martin’s and Carra
Martin (Main)
Martin is the heart of the film. He is sensitive, wounded, and navigating emotional shock. He represents the parts of ourselves that retreat inward when overwhelmed by grief, searching for meaning in silence and memory.
Martin Grey
He wears a crown and later a rabbit mask, moving like a shadow of logic and numbness. Martin Grey reflects the intellectual side of trauma, the one that rationalizes instead of feeling, and watches rather than acts.
Martin Red (formerly Martin Black)
Once clad in black, now dressed in red, he represents emotional detachment through sarcasm and deflection. He is sharp, mocking, and dismissive, acting as the embodiment of avoidance and unresolved pain masked as confidence.
Carra
Carra is both presence and absence. Her return is filled with regret, vulnerability, and the ache of missed timing. She is the unfinished conversation, the apology never spoken, and the longing for closure that may never come.
Synopsis
Martin is caught in the stillness of grief, held in place by voices he cannot silence. In a space between memory and present time, he is visited by two fractured parts of himself — Martin Grey and Martin Red. Each voice reflects the broken pieces of his identity.
When Carra reappears, she brings apology, sorrow, and the truth left unspoken. What follows is not a clean resolution, but an unraveling. A letting go. A moment where fantasy collapses and Martin must decide whether he wants to live in silence or speak for himself.
Genre & Style
Returning Home is an experimental psychological drama shaped by surreal fiction and visual poetry. The film blends raw emotion with symbolic imagery, creating a layered experience that lives between performance and metaphor. It focuses on internal dialogue, emotional disconnection, and the invisible weight of grief.
Rather than following a traditional structure, the story unfolds through fractured versions of the main character. Each version reflects a different emotional state, exposing how love, abandonment, and silence can distort identity. The minimalist production design contrasts with the film’s emotional intensity, allowing the story to breathe while the viewer absorbs its deeper themes.
This is a quiet storm. A portrait of what happens when memory speaks louder than words.
TRAILER AND SHORT FILM
Genre of Film:
Returning Home is a psychological drama that blends elements of surrealism and inner monologue to explore the aftermath of emotional abandonment. Told through fractured memory, symbolic visuals, and raw conversation, the film dives into the inner world of a man grappling with heartbreak, identity, and self-confrontation. The narrative unfolds like a fever dream, where reality and memory blur, and the only path forward is through. This is not a love story. It is a story about detachment, grief, and the quiet rebellion of reclaiming the self.
FILM STILLS
TALENT: Bader Kabbani - Martin / Martin Grey & Red / | Janeya Lynch - Carra
"Sometimes the hardest place to return to is yourself."
CAST & CREW
CREW INSERT:
Mayliz Acevedo - Casting / Film Director | Charlie R Williams - Writer / Director of Photography / Production Designer / Executive Producer | Sean-Luc Acevedo - Producer / Production Manager | Rodrick Morrison - 1st AD / Electrical / Sound & Boom / Grip / 2nd AD /PA | Chloë Bachofen - Set designer / Make-up Aritst / Props Coordinator. | PA | Hannibal Darby - 2nd AD / Set Photographer / PA.
GEAR / SOFTWARE / RESOURCES
Camera - (2X) BMPCC4K Metabones adapter 0.64 MFT - EF Lens - Meike FF 35mm T2.1 & Meike FF 50mm T2.1 Audio Device - Mix Pre-3 Samsung T5 SSD 1TB - Tilta Nucleus-Nano II Andycinve V-mount plate Portkeys LH5P 5.5" monitor Godox VL150 Godox 80cm / 32in Oct Softbox Neewer C-Stand Hollyland Mars 4K -- Software and Editing -- Photoshop / Thumbnail DaVinci Resolve Music and Sound effects - https://https://motionarray.com - https://www.epidemicsound.com
SOCIALS & PROMOTIONS
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