Otis (Anis Mojgani)
Otis Under Sky, a visually enchanting film by Austin director Anlo Sepulveda, makes its World Premiere at the SXSW Film Festival.
As an Austin native who grew up roaming the town’s streets, I am always interested to watch movies filmed here. Otis Under Sky is the first film I’ve ever seen that shows Austin as I see it. A beautiful and sometimes grubby town with magical hidden spaces along the edges of the lake, below bridges, and even in unglamorous co-ops.
The film tells the story of Otis (Anis Mojgani), a socially inept artistic savant who “spends his days in front of a computer researching Eastern religions, creating web-art, and vlogging.”
Otis struggles with his mother’s death and a longing for human connection. When Otis leaves his house, it’s to plaster the streets with renegade art about the pain of obsolete technologies. (Otis is practiced at quickly attaching VCR tapes printed with phrases such as “Nobody wants me” and “Digital killed the video star” to public buildings as he passes by on foot).
Otis Under Sky Trailer from Anlo Sepulveda on Vimeo.
The solitary Otis is forced to deal with the awkwardness and beauty of human interaction when he “falls into unrequited love at first sight with Ursula, a kleptomaniac womanizer” and lapsed Catholic who still crosses herself when she passes a street mural of the Virgin of the Guadalupe.
The romance between Otis and Ursula is awkward, profound, and non-physical. The silences between them are brilliantly executed and speak to the ineffable quality of unexpected and sudden friendships. But Otis and Ursula’s relationship is complicated by the return of Ursula’s girlfriend, which drives Otis to try the “severe meditation” that has so fascinated him.
Otis Under Sky, with its simple and endearing plot, eloquently addresses the larger issues of how to find both spiritual and human connections while living in a painful and changing world. Throughout the film, Otis ponders the questions of existence, but it is the film’s extraordinary use of light that speaks most eloquently of the spiritual transcendence Otis seeks.
This stunning debut by Sepulveda is one SXSW attraction I’d happily stand in line to see.
For a schedule of upcoming screenings of Otis Under Sky click HERE.
