Blisters

Alia Wilhelm, Callie Keels Ju

United States of America / 2024 / Fiction / 12’57”I2502263

Blisters
1 BO Images Trealer

SYNOPSIS

Blisters is set in Manhattan on a hot summer’s night in 1983. Teenager Moon is tasked with helping her father, Baba, run his grocery store on the night of its 24/7 opening, while a few blocks away, her idol, David Bowie, embarks on his first tour in five years. Born to a Turkish father and an absent Korean mother, Moon is struggling to find her place in the world. Her alienation is heightened by ads which are narrow-minded in their promotion of female beauty. By contrast, Moon is inspired by Bowie’s ability to shape-shift into endless different personas. As concert-goers drift in and out of the store, Moon contends with her desire for reinvention by revelling in fantasies of her own superstardom. The television becomes her portal to another world, a different self. She imagines what it would look like if she were beloved and admired. In this alternate reality, Moon is a bold and polished star, capable of dazzling all. On stage, she performs a song. It is visceral and enchanting, a bittersweet ode to the conflicting selves we all carry around within us. Soon, however, it is day again, and there is lots to do at the grocery store.

GÉNÉRIQUE