15' | 2025 | 4K Digital | Narrative Fiction
Beyond Where You Exist is a short narrative Fiction that Chiara has co-directed, with fellow student Alexandra Kerstens, as their master's graduate project at LUCA School of Arts, Sint-Lukas.
The film tells the story about Raven, a 27-year-old woman, who lives alone in her apartment and is gradually withdrawing further into her own inner world. Paying little attention to the outside world, which feels vast and cold to her, Raven wanders the outskirts of the city at night with her contact microphone, recording the sounds that shape her inner world.
Slowly but surely, these sounds begin to take on a life of their own, drawing Raven deeper into a rabbit hole she can't seem to escape. What starts as an act of observation becomes an immersive descent into a world of her own making, ultimately drawing her into a world that lives within her, one that exists somewhere between fantasy and reality.
With this story they want to raise the question of whether what we imagine isn't sometimes just as valuable as tangible reality, precisely because it offers us the opportunity to escape and connect. Raven's story embodies a recognizable, modern struggle that many people will recognize: a longing for connection and a sense of alienation in a confusing world.
