Private Project

M.I.A. — What Happened To Mia Wander?

In 2020, Mia Wander, a young swiss biologist, was informally credited with the discovery of extraterrestrial life, claiming to have been transported to an unknown celestial body called Hus. Although the scientific community discarded Mia as a hoax, an unconventional institution stepped up to represent her research. However, silence on the subject prevailed for the following two years, until Emily Weaver, a progressive scientific journalist uncovers the story of a lifetime.

This fictional documentary movie is the sequel to the book “Human Encyclopedia of Hus”, 2020, authored by Mia Wander (fictional character), presented in the exhibition project of the same name, an art installation with sculptures showcased as husian objects brought to Earth by Mia herself.

  • Manuel Justo
    Director
  • Emily Whitaker
    Key Cast
    "Emily Weaver"
  • Hamza Badran
    Key Cast
    "A version of himself"
  • Lucca Jaeckel
    Key Cast
    "Lucca P. Hyde"
  • Urs Erismann
    Key Cast
    "Urs Wellen"
  • Ina Bandixen
    Key Cast
    "Mia Wander"
  • Claudia Bandixen
    Key Cast
    "Martha Wander"
  • Alicia Michaels
    Key Cast
    "Claudia Burnell"
  • Cécile Baumgartner
    Key Cast
    "Jeanne Forrêt"
  • Chus Martínez
    Key Cast
    "A version of herself"
  • Peter Burleigh
    Key Cast
    "Peter Crick"
  • Berxo Strässle
    Key Cast
    "Translator"
  • Nike Ossler
    Drone videographer
    Carl Wachtmeister, the noble bike taxi man
  • Matilde Martins
    Colorist
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short, Other
  • Genres:
    Sci-Fi, Fiction Documentary, Video Art
  • Runtime:
    39 minutes 59 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 28, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    16,820 CHF
  • Country of Origin:
    Portugal
  • Country of Filming:
    Switzerland
  • Language:
    English, German, Swiss German
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • DOCK Basel: Screening of work-in-progress version
    Basel
    Switzerland
    October 26, 2023
  • MU.SA Sintra: Screening of work-in-progress version
    Sintra
    Portugal
    September 10, 2023
Director Biography - Manuel Justo

Manuel Justo B. Lisbon, 1994

Artist and videographer based in Bern, Switzerland

Since 2016: Exhibited/performed in various cultural institutions in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland, such as Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, CH; Spazio In Situ, Rome, IT; MU.SA, Sintra, PT; National Society of Fine Arts (SNBA), Lisbon PT; Fondation Beyeler, Basel, CH and Fabrikculture, Héggenheim, FR
2018-2020: Master in Fine Arts, Institut Kunst, HGK, Basel, CH
2017: D. Fernando II Sculpture Prize, Sintra Museum of the Arts, Sintra, PT
2012-2016: Degree in painting, FBAUL, Lisbon, PT
2014-2015: Diplôme National d'Arts Plastiques, ESAP, Tarbes, FR
2010-2012: Technical-professional course in cinema and video, António Arroio, Lisbon, PT

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Director Statement

The short movie is a playful reflection on what we consider and validate as true, false, fiction and reality. It appropriates the aesthetic of a documentary movie in order to install a sense of 'real' and presents itself as such, unlike the 'mockumentary' genre, in which the fiction becomes evident. The movie wishes to establish a ground on which reality and fiction not only co-exist, but overlap, leaving it up to the active minds of the viewers to scrutinise the narrative and finding their own vision of the 'truth'. The plot originates from a sci-fi book and art exhibition I created in 2020 in a similar approach, as an undisclosed fiction, where the text and material objects refer to and are supposed to serve as proof of the discovery of extraterrestrial life. The film revolves around a character, Mia Wander, credited with the astonishing feat, and who is the key to answer all the questions raised by this breakthrough. The problem is: she is nowhere to be found. Mia becomes therefore a virtual figure and her vacuum leaves the story to unfold into several different potential stories of what could have ‘really’ happened, through conflicting statements of people who she came across. In order to construct this plurality of ‘truths’, I've incorporated into it bits and pieces of my actual biography and contribute to the story with my own statement with both true and fictive details. Overall, the movie ascertains that there is no such thing as one-sided truths, celebrates the plurality of opinions and puts the danger of fake news and information manipulation at the forefront. It serves as a reminder that all individuals are not only mere recipients of information and narratives, but everyone of us plays an active role in their validation, propagation and their development, as well as in their questioning, dismissal and opposition.