A ham radio enthusiast discovers a mysterious object that might be a window into another world.

One day, a mysterious object falls from the sky, crashing into Alan’s backyard. The object begins to manipulate Alan’s perception giving him a glimpse into a disturbing alternate version of his own reality. While not exploring too deep into explanations or even reasons, Andy Fortenbacher’s ’The Discovery of Alan Hindley’ teases at the mysterious and unexplained, highlighting in an indirect way the relationship between a man and his bitter, chain-smoking mother. His relationship with her is layered with resentment and repetition, so Alan isolates himself up the attic on his radio, seeking a way to escape his situation.

Every reality begins with a consequence.

The Discovery of Alan Hindley was completed as a part of my graduate degree studies at Columbia University in New York City.  We shot the film in a single day on 35mm film on an Aaton Penelope camera with Zeiss Ultraprime lenses. My goal for the project was to do a final film at Columbia after completing my thesis film. I wanted to work within a rigid schedule and budget, using limited locations and resources, but tell a very stylized Sci-fi/dark comedy that communicated ideas about the theory of the multiverse. It was definitely a challenge to get the entire film in the can all on that single day, but we did it! We had a great crew and cast to make it all happen.

The film packs an impressive amount of content and scenes considering it was all shot in one day. Careful planning and pre-production is made quite evident and is reflected in the film’s overall production, noticing the precautions attention to details, mainly in the prop and set designs. Keeping the script simple and short yet carrying the fictional punch seems to be the key to the process, but we must mention that the splendid editing really creates a smooth flow despite the nonlinear progression.