NEXT TIME

On the way back from a road trip, a woman tries to save her doomed relationship by stopping at a roadside attraction that promises time travel.

  • Talia Shea Levin
    Director
    ISOLATIONS, E T A, GIMME ALL YOUR LOVE
  • Talia Shea Levin
    Writer
  • Jeffrey Reeser
    Producer
    SHADOW OF A GUN
  • Talia Shea Levin
    Producer
  • Amanda Leigh Jerry
    Key Cast
    "Bess"
    SWEET/VICIOUS
  • Dakota Loesch
    Key Cast
    "Aidan"
    ANCHORAGE, LOVE SHOT
  • Arlene Muller
    Cinematographer
    555, BOBBYANNA, SHIT KIDS
  • Roger Bacon
    Editor
  • Jeffrey Reeser
    Editor
  • Thaddeus Ruzicka
    Editor
  • Anna Reeser
    Production Design
  • David Reeser
    Production Design
  • Carolyn Fox
    Production Design
  • Christina Gonzalez
    Sound Design
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Sci-Fi, Drama
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 4 seconds
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    16mm
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:1.75
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Nashville Film Festival
    Nashville, TN
    United States
    AUDIENCE AWARD - Graveyard Shorts
  • Chattanooga Film Festival
    Chattanooga, TN
    United States
  • HollyShorts Film Festival
    Los Angeles, CA
    United States
    Official Selection
  • GenreBlast Film Festival
    Winchester, VA
    United States
    Official Selection
  • SCI-FI-LONDON Film Festival
    London, ENG
    United Kingdom
    Official Selection
  • Silver Lake Film Society
    Los Angeles, CA
    United States
    Official Selection
  • Athens International Art Film Festival
    Athens
    Greece
    Best Poster
  • Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival
    Brooklyn
    United States
Director Biography - Talia Shea Levin

Talia is a Director, Writer, and Producer for film, theater, and virtual reality. She uses speculative storytelling and non-naturalistic narrative techniques, from dance to science-fiction, to get closer to human truths.

Her short film Next Time took home an Audience Award at the Academy Award-Qualifying Nashville Film Festival and also screened at HollyShorts Film Festival. Her dance films have been featured across international platforms and festivals including Short of the Week, NOWNESS, Dance Magazine, Source Creative, The Cut Magazine, and PÖFF Shorts, and she has served as a jury member for the National Film Festival For Talented Youth and the L.A. Dance Film Festival.

In her work for corporate clients such as Uber ATG and NanoString Technologies she ensures that story is always the beating heart of the project.

After obtaining her degree in Directing and Screenwriting at Carnegie Mellon University, Talia drove from her hometown of Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, where she now resides.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I love filmmaking most as a call to adventure. And I love road trips. To shoot NEXT TIME, a small, intrepid crew and I piled into three cars and drove 500 miles to the Northern Nevada desert, where we spent 3 days working to capture the mundane magic of the road and the elusive dreams lost in mismatched relationships on 16mm film. It sure feels like the end of the world among the dunes of Sand Mountain, just north of Fallon, NV, so we threw in an apocalypse too, for good measure.

NEXT TIME is a road trip time travel movie built on the shared spirit of American highway culture and science fiction. From Wall Drug in South Dakota, to The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, CA, roadside attractions are mired in the kitsch fantastic of aliens, dinosaurs, and other haunts. Billboards sell wonders, but deliver mostly photo ops and gift shops. But sometimes, when the light is just right, an unassuming exit leads to the sublime.

NEXT TIME drives discordant duo Bess and Aidan down the highway and on to the beyond, with visits to all their shortcomings along the way. Their relationship, built on fantasy, stretches to its limit on the open road as time ticks forward, promising more than it can give, taking them right where they need to go, and back.