Experiencing Interruptions?

Shadow 影

A Japanese woman (Ai Kishimoto) lives unknowingly
caught between the grind of a monotonous job
and a secret life she leads at night.
After yet another stressful day, on the brink of
an emotional collapse, she becomes aware of the deep
rift that divides her into two distinct personalities.
The inevitable inner conflict with the two sides
of herself, compelled by a mystical and
ancestral figure, will push her toward a new
awareness and a renewed sense of balance.

  • Lino Palena
    Writer
    Noli Respicere | Never Look Back
  • Ai Kishimoto
    Key Cast
    "Ai Kishimoto"
    The Artist and the Muse
  • Riccardo Casiccia
    Director of Photography
    Talking to Control, Margine, Dov'è la Vittoria
  • Giulia Amadei
    Costume Designer
    Margine
  • Lino Palena
    Editor
  • Lino Palena
    Director
    Talking to Control, I Wanted a War, Noli Respicere | Never Look Back
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Ombra 影
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Arthouse, Drama
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    November 18, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy
  • Language:
    Japanese
  • Shooting Format:
    RED Komodo, Sony FS5M2
  • Aspect Ratio:
    17:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • Siberia Distribution
    Distributor
    Country: Italy
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Lino Palena

Filmmaker, producer, multimedia artist, guerrilla marketing
and new media expert, Lino Palena is a researcher of what is
written between the lines.
Since years he worked as a theater director assistant, as a VJ and as director of either commercial and underground multimedia projects.
His filmography includes documentaries,
short movies and countless clips.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The idea revolves around the well-explored figure of the ‘double’.
The Latin term 'imago-inis' cannot be translated merely as image, but also as semblance, vision, dream, apparition, with an evident allusion to the sphere of the transcendent.
The ancient Greek term εἴδωλον|èidolon|, from which the Italian word idol derives, can be translated as image, simulacrum, but also apparition.
Freud picks up on Rank's concept of the double in his 1919 essay on The Uncanny |Der Unheimlich|. The 'uncanny' is what arouses fear and anxiety, because it is unknown, unfamiliar and outside our everyday experience. In psychoanalytic language, the word perturbing signals discomfort, a doubling, concerning the subject, the ego and its unconscious, the id, in reference to the loss of identity and alienation. The sudden emergence of a double figure represents an invasion of the unconscious into the realm of the conscious, a return of the repressed that becomes disturbing.
To simplify, for psychoanalysis, the double is the other part of us— what we are, but do not recognize rationally.
While working with Ai Kishimoto on this story and her personal history, among the many artists who have reflected on the theme of the double, I felt a strong desire to pay homage to two of my favorite love films and the impact of their directors’ visions, blending them into my own creative process.