Loneland
A Synopsis for a film
Leonie (17f) always proclaimed herself to come from Loneland, an island in the Baltic Sea. No one believed this was actually a place except Alex (15f). At a young age, Alex lost her mother, whom she thought was a witch. She believed Leonie was a witch also and felt affine to her.
Before the summer holiday, Leonie said she would go home to Loneland, the first time in five years. Alex asked if she could visit. Leonie said yes, and she would go back to fix her house first. She wrote Alex a meeting place.
Alex reached the meeting place on the day of the summer solstice. It was a village by the Sea, and a small cabin was prepared for Alex’s use. During her short stay, she saw big birds rowing the boat and people living across time, some from the Medieval, some from the future, swimming in the sea. When the night fell, creatures claiming themselves as Moon residents talked to her. Utensils in the kitchen danced in a circle to the candle Alex lit up. Midsummer was a time when the usual laws of nature or divinity could be suspended, when spirits and fairies could contact humans, and when the humans could see that magics are not just tricks or "optical illusions."
Two days later, Leonie still didn’t show up. During the night, Alex dreamt about having a dream in the middle of the day in a tree hammock. When she woke up, she was in a boat next to the sea, with the hammock swaying to the wind. She seemed to have reached Loneland, and she fell asleep again.
She woke up at noon. She found herself soaked in water, and the boat was gone. She searched for Leonie on the island. It must be Loneland, and there was no other explanation. Finally, she reached a house. She walked in and found everything about herself in the house. It was so strange and yet also so familiar. She felt she had been in this house before, but how would this house happen to be in Loneland?
She discovered that things moved backwards on the island. She flipped the calendar and found the day to be the summer solstice. The disfigured soap grew back into the original soap in the bathroom; the leftover soup became the freshly prepared soup in the kitchen. One day, she encountered a rock and sat on it. The rock asked about her feelings about living in Loneland. Alex asked her where Leonie had been. The rock answered that Loneland was for the solitary. Leonie had been desiring connections, and so the island needed her to go. The rock also said that because Alex looked up to Leonie, Leonie wasn’t seen as a real connection, but a dream, to her.
A boat was found next to the shore. Alex rowed the boat and wanted to leave the Loneland, yet every time she touched land, it was still Loneland. She was very weak now, both physically and mentally. She stopped, and someone asked, “Would you accept help from a stranger and release your shame of being helped?” She nodded. Alex accepted the help, and with that, she left the Loneland.