Title: «Shadows»

Format: Short narrative game film

Genre: Dramedy, psychological horror

Runtime: Approximately 25 minutes

Age Rating: 18+

«Shadows» is a story about the fear of emotional intimacy, told through the mystical figure of a double. The film merges a recognizable situation from romantic relationships with the genre elements of psychological horror, transforming the protagonist’s internal conflict into a physical confrontation with her own counterpart.

Mitya (27) is ready to confess his love to Alena (23), but for her, closeness is more terrifying than loneliness. During their trip outside the city, a third person appears between the lovers—Alena’s exact double—who wants to keep the girl for herself.

The film addresses the conflict between the need for love and the desire to maintain emotional independence. The fear of intimacy doesn’t always manifest as relationship avoidance; a person might experience deep feelings yet perceive their deepening as a threat to their established lifestyle and personal boundaries.«Shadows» explores this issue through the story of a young woman with an avoidant attachment style. The mystical double allows the complex psychological conflict to transcend ordinary romantic drama, rendering it visible through the lens of genre cinema.

The primary target audience is viewers aged 18–35 who are interested in psychological narratives, contemporary relationships, auteur genre cinema, and horror built on emotional tension. The film is aimed at an audience that resonates with themes of personal boundaries, loneliness, the fear of vulnerability, and the complexity of romantic attachment. A secondary audience may include fans of mystical thrillers, psychological dramas, and short-form festival cinema.

«Shadows» merges the tone of a romantic dramedy with the atmosphere of psychological horror. The story begins as a quiet observation of a loving couple, but gradually, the familiar space of the country home transforms into a place of unsettling and inexplicable events. The uniqueness of the project lies in the interpretation of the doppelgänger: it does not seek to usurp the protagonist’s life, but rather resists her desire to change it. The antagonist is not an external force, but a familiar version of herself for whom love represents a threat.

The visual dramaturgy of the film is built on a gradual transition from the warm, lively atmosphere of a romantic trip to a sense of dread. Key expressive elements will include reflections, repetition of movement, silhouettes, spatial depth, and the contrast between the natural grace of the characters and the unnatural presence of the double.

The winter country house and surrounding forest create an isolated space where romantic intimacy coexists with anxiety. The figure of the double will develop through subtle disturbances in everyday reality before the heroine confronts him directly.

The project proposes an intimate production format featuring a limited number of main characters and locations. The action primarily unfolds in a country house and the adjacent winter forest. The core production challenge is creating a believable presence for two externally identical heroines within a single artistic space. This will require meticulous development of staging, cinematography, actor movement, and editing transitions.

A completed original narrative film, approximately 25 minutes in length, intended for graduation defense and subsequent festival promotion.