THEOPHILOS PAPASTYLIANOS
Three seconds. The memory span of an average goldfish.
Three seconds. The basic time window in which people perceive each moment. In other words, our subjective present is about three seconds long.
An empty train station. One man standing at the edge of the platform awaits. He is about to jump, determined to put an end. A single thought, so small but at the same time nearly big enough to accommodate his whole life.
Three seconds is all he needs and everything will be over.
Two single steps and…
An old man shows up and puts his decision to commit suicide on hold. He invades the privacy of the moment and invites him to take part in an experiment.
The two of them will embark in a journey where the platform will become a fish tank and the man will be “turned” into a goldfish.
SYNOPSIS
"Not a single day passes by without someone terminating a piece of himself, maybe two or even more. People commit suicide one portion a time, you decided to do it all at once. "
Step One.
The man abandons the comfort zone of his everyday life and agrees to gaze past the boundaries of the visible world, to move beyond its limitations and travel inward, throw himself into the unknown. It is where we can find all the dragons of our lives, but also the endless possibilities each one of us holds. It is the place where our shadow self resides, all the parts or aspects of ourselves we hide from.
Step Two.
He assumes he will travel far, and instead he takes a trip into the core of his existence. He thinks he will encounter something odious and discovers the beauty of life. The moment he is about to kill someone, he murders a piece of himself. What appears to him as most alien will become the truest, most trustworthy friend. He expects to be alone only to realize he is surrounded by the whole world.
A GOLDFISH
REMEMBERS
A train is coming from the far end.
Three seconds left... Two steps to take…
The man comes inside. He immerges among us, a man reborn from what he has learned.
Once again the platform is empty. The old man nowhere to be found. The truth is he was never there. He is only existed in the man’s mind, breathing in his soul. He was present for as long as he was needed, a forgotten part of one’s self, being there to remind, to intrigue, to evoke change.
Three seconds the memory of a goldfish.
Three seconds our subjective present.
Three seconds… that seem like an hour.
Soon enough the train will leave the station.
A new journey is about to begin.
DIRE
CTOR'S
SCRIPT
WRITER'S
NOTE
The two men become part of an experiment; they embark in a journey where the platform becomes a fish tank, and the man is “turned” into a goldfish.
The man is another Don Quixote, a knight seeking a higher purpose but refusing to see clearly, trying to answer his call but failing to meet his destiny.
The old man is Sancho; he represents the ability to live in this world, a character who gives us clarity and allows us to distinguish simple windmills from monstrous giants.
The protagonist abandons the comfort zone of his everyday life and agrees to gaze past the boundaries of the visible world, to move beyond its limitations and travel inward, throw himself into the unknown.
It is the place where we all our fears and dragons live, where our shadow-self awaits and so do all the aspects of ourselves we hide from. It is also the place where we can discover a world the endless possibilities.
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance; the five stages of grief the protagonist goes through.
He assumes he will travel far, and instead he takes a trip into the core of his existence. He thinks he will encounter something odious and discovers the beauty of life. What seems to him as most alien becomes the truest, most trustworthy friend.
He expects to be alone only to realize he is surrounded by the whole world. The moment he is about to kill someone, he murders a piece of himself.
Tragedy and comedy take turns. Tragedy is our descent, the human suffering, and the dramatic crash of our identity. Comedy is our ascent, the carefree and frantic enjoyment of the moment. Together they constitute the revelation called life.
The subway platform represents the human soul, what moves and electrifies us. It is our spirit, the dark corners that shape our world. It is all the “stops” we take to regroup and reinvent ourselves, to find our place in life. The crossroad where we decide which path to follow.
It is a fish tank and inside that piece of glass the man as a goldfish learning to dwell, to swim, to observe, to change.
The man remembers. He remembers the strength that lies within him, the power of his voice, his thirst for life. He remembers the beauty that resides in the depths of his soul. He remembers not to be afraid, to fall and stand up, to lose his breath only to find it once more. He remembers ...
Three seconds the memory of a goldfish.
Are they enough to stop the man from seeing "giants" and discover Sancho hiding inside of him?
Is it all it takes to decide to live?
Can a single thought make us see things differently, help us put together the pieces of one’s self?
Is a single moment more than enough for the whole world to change?
