Cassandra Apollinaire’s Prodigious Soul-Capturing Machine

Whatever happens, never look into the lens…

France, 1971. It’s the 13th of October when a postman rings the Sélavy family’s door, causing all hell to break loose: the delivery is for Louis, René’s twin, who died in an accident two years earlier. Since then, no one has been able to say his name. But when the package reveals the missing piece of the creepy darkroom locked away in the garage and their parents suddenly disappear, siblings Yves, André and René find themselves with many questions: who is the mysterious Cassandra Apollinaire who sent the parcel? What has happened to their parents? But above all: is it really possible to bring the dead back to life? Because Louis is back. And in René’s body.

Three siblings, a race against time among the streets of Paris, coded messages, ancient daguerreotypes, centuries-old secret circles and a disturbing mystery: can photographic film preserve a soul?

•  The adventure and its settings. 1970s, Paris and its surroundings. Old houses, woods, underground passages in the heart of the city, ancient railway stations (Gare d’Orsay),
  monumental cemeteries (Père Lachaise Cemetery), colleges and academies, secret laboratories
  in the centuries-old Maison of Cassandra Apollinaire.
• The fantastic in vintage technology and the development of the following themes: the
  history of photography, the influence of images on the perception of others and on the
  importance of remembering. The ambivalent reality of photographic film that shows the world inverted, just like the science. Family, overcoming a bereavement, metamorphosis, or growth. The idea of a possible return in the sharing of experiences, and the importance of holding on to the things that remain.