Experiencing Interruptions?

The Gravedigger's Spy, a performance art movie

A woman has a cardiac event and collapses unconscious on a public sidewalk. In the void of consciousness without existence that is near death, she realizes her brain is escaping cell by cell. She tries to recover her brain before it is collected by The Gravedigger, a sentient phenomenon of the Milky Way that is obsessed with decomposed organisms.

"The Gravedigger's Spy" is a standalone short, based on the beginning sequences of THE BEST DEATH by Sylvia Toy, which is currently in pre-production.

  • Sylvia Toy St. Louis
    Director
  • Sylvia Toy St. Louis
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Performance Art, Video Art, Fantasy, Silent, Surrealist
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 16 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 6, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Sylvia Toy St. Louis

I am a middle class American housewife who greenscreens movies in her livingroom. My training was in the visual arts, acting and playwriting. The actor in me constantly pushes me out of the way to explore new characters. There’s so many protagonists inside me that I’d have to live 500 years in order to compose all their stories.

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Director Statement

My moviemaking started out like probably every filmmaker’s does: flying breathlessly by the seat of my pants (very much like those crazy flying dreams everyone has) to compose 20 or 30 seconds; and being surprised and incredulous when those seconds were more or less cohesive.

As my experiments stuck together better, my movies got longer and now, It’s hard for me to tell a story in less than 40 minutes.