Narrative Short Film (2026)
A widower retreats to an isolated cabin where his grief fractures into reflections of his late wife, pulling him into a world of mirrors, memory, and self-destruction.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Reverie explores the way grief reshapes perception. Brian’s world is collapsing inward, and instead of healing, he reconstructs his wife through reflections: a presence that cannot touch him, cannot speak, but never leaves. Mirrors in the film are not supernatural devices; they are emotional architecture. They allow Brian to build a reality where Klara still exists, even if only in pieces.
Visually, the film’s language is slow, patient, and tactile. Long takes allow the mirrors to breathe, letting the viewer question what belongs to reality and what belongs to Brian’s fractured mind. Natural environments, mist, washed-out daylight, the Hostetler sculptures, and the texture of wood all echo themes of decay and transformation.
At its core, Reverie is about a person constructing a beautiful but impossible world to avoid facing the finality of loss. Brian’s death beside the lake is not a defeat. It is the only point at which his longing finally settles into stillness, and he joins the memory he could never let go.
Directed by: MJ Golzari
Produced by: MJ Golzari, Elmira Heidarpour
Line Producer: Abisola Mohammed
Writers: MJ Golzari
Cinematography: Soheil Goharipour, Mj Golzari
Lead actor: Brian Evans
Lead Actress: Cassidy Breuner
Assistant Director: Talisa Lemke
Editor & Sound Design: MJ Golzari
Original Music: Niloufar Shiri
Production Design: Sara Ebrahimi
VFX Designer: Soroush Kioumarsi
Gaffer: Alaa Al-Shameri
Assistant Camera: Aram Riazi
Grip: Hayden Jones
Best Boy: Chuck Sipps
BTS Photographer: Azaan Shah
