Somnium
2016, 20 minutes
The story follows an intergalactic postal worker whose routine delivery spirals out of control.
Somnium is a science fiction short-film about an intergalactic postal worker, Joan Kepler. She’s top of her game, a senior deliverer in an industry that’s been threatened by newer, faster technologies. But what her company prides themselves on are getting the most valuable packages to their destinations, without fail. They might not be the fastest service available but -in a world where digital signals are as ease to hijack as catching a ball- they are the safest. Keeping Joan company on her endless missions is her ship, PAT 1. He’s laconic, lazy and desperate to retire but remains deeply loyal. Together they’ve explored the outer edges of the galaxy, all the while preserving their 100% delivery record. But on this job, something’s different. Three innocuous packages and a trip into uncharted space: it’s nothing she hasn’t handled before. But when something starts to affect PAT 1’s navigation system, and his carefully programmed personality, Kepler realises that something is wrong. After the first delivery, to a man on an otherwise uninhabited planet, the problems stop for a while. But, on the second planet -one with a much more violent atmosphere- they’re caught in an electrical storm. PAT 1’s systems are fried and, when Kepler reaches the drop off point, she finds to her horror that she is delivering to the same man. What started as a normal delivery has blown out of control, abandoned by her companion and with no more options, she decides to open the final package...
