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Escape from Flat Earth

It's the aughts in Albuquerque, NM when trailer dwelling Jean-Camille joins forces with their brother, Christian rock bassist Michel to intervene on stubborn sister Daphne’s engagement to flat-earth misogynist Daryl. A Dram-Com about siblings growing each other up, under absurd circumstances.

  • Marie Alarcon
    Writer
  • Marie Alarcon
    Director
  • Manny Alarcon
    Director of Photography
  • Marie Alarcon
    Producer
  • Chi Chi Castillo
    Producer
  • Che Castillo
    Assistant Director
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, comedy
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    November 4, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    11,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States, United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    RED Raw
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Marie Alarcon

Marie Alarcón is an experimental documentarian by training, with an M.F.A. and Certificate in Time Based Media from the University of Pennsylvania. They are a tenure-track professor in Film and Digital Arts at the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque. In 2023, Alarcón received the Stowe Story Labs, New Voices * New Mexico fellowship with their feature length screenplay “The Jeanjacques.”

Their documentary film work has been screened at the Blackstar Film Festival Philadelphia, Harlem International Film Festival, San Francisco Urban Film Festival, and at numerous, universities, galleries and conferences nationally.

Historically Alarcón’s work and collaborations have focused on QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities, as someone who is also a member of multiple marginalized groups. These stories both uplift and reflect realities of the struggle of marginality and oppression.

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Director Statement

For the past 18 years, I have dedicated my life to documentary filmmaking and community media. I have supported countless people telling their stories on their own terms. From immigrants facing detention, to neighbors resisting gentrification, to autobiographical pieces about environmental racism, and identity. I am honored to have spent my career listening and documenting these stories. I am also excited to move into a new genre of filmmaking, the dram-com.

Which brings us to Escape from Flat Earth a short film I wrote as proof of concept for a feature length project I’ve been working on for the past 10 years and which I had a Stowe Story Labs, New Voices * New Mexico fellowship. Escape from Flat Earth is about the relationships of siblings and is loosely inspired by my life story. I am the oldest of 3 siblings and we are all close and distant simultaneously. This film delves into what it’s like to grow up as an outsider with only your siblings to help guide you through adulthood.