Hallucinations/Paradise

HALLUCINATIONS/PARADISE, 2010 (70 minutes) is a fable about everyday life, madness, love, and Shanghai. The movie depicts half-imagined, half-true stories of three couples that moved from other cities to Shanghai, the new center of the universe. All the characters have the same names: the three men are all anthropologists named Will, and the three women are all psychologists named Lily.  Surviving in loneliness and longing for love, they encounter each other and share deep sentiments. There are additional characters in the movie – allegorical figures engaging in scenarios highlighting the psycho-social life of the city of Shanghai.  And then there are Ghosts as well, who inhabit their own delusional world – and haunt the central characters of the film.

  • Sam Samore
    Director
    Mirror of Happiness, 2022
  • Sam Samore
    Writer
    Dead in Paris, 2023
  • François Leturcq
    Editor
    Mirror of Happiness, 2022
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 10 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    September 1, 2010
  • Production Budget:
    90,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    English, Mandarin Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16.9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Sam Samore

I have written four published collections of fairytales. I’ve also exhibited paintings, photographs, and installations around the world in museums, galleries and Biennales. Besides many short films, I have written and directed two feature length “artist films”: "Hallucinations/Paradise", 2010 and "Mirror of Happiness", 2022.

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Director Statement

My films celebrate the sensibilities of such writers as Gertrude Stein and the stream of consciousness narratives of James Joyce. My films also continue in the footsteps of the pioneer Luis Buñuel. Recent examples of Magic Realism would include “The Lobster” by Yorgos Lanthimos, as well as the work of Brit Marling.