LACUNA.
Synopsis
David is a successful and disillusioned software engineer in his mid-twenties. Having relocated to Australia from Hong Kong to escape political instability, he is culturally and socially isolated. He spends his days alone within his sparse, modern home moving in and out of work, strained familial conversations and his clinical routine. Eventually, he starts to engage with an anonymous AI-generated voice, their conversations allowing him to connect with aspects of himself that he had previously neglected. The further he retreats into this intimacy, the more their conversations evolve, the more his ordered world is interrupted by the arrival of strange forces. A young, socially isolated software engineer finds himself through conversations he shares with an anonymous digital companion.
Deborah Lombard
Writer and Director
Deborah is a French/Korean film-maker and holds a BCom (Media Arts and Production) from UTS. She is passionate about sharing stories on the periphery and exploring unconventionality through a resonant, surprising lense. As an academic, she is interested in the application of sociological and anthropological frameworks to the analysis of lived experience. Deborah intends on growing her experience in research, with a focus on gender equality, culture, and human rights. She has a background in music as a trained classical pianist, jazz guitarist and resident deejay at Radio Skid Row. She is currently preparing to direct a short documentary project for a Sydney-based activist event as part of the UN Women’s ‘16 Days of Activism’ 2023.
Jason Lin
Actor
Jason entered the acting world when he appeared in a Superwog episode at the end of 2022, where he discovered his love for acting. His highlights this year include being on set with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt and acting in a Sydney Sweeney feature film. Jason grew up playing classical piano, a skill he has applied to several of his roles.
Christina Kim
Voice Actor
With years of experience performing on stage in the US and Cambodia, combined with her training in Sydney, Christina is a versatile artist. She has a propensity for comedy, is comfortable improvising and using a variety of accents. Her caring, genuine and calming voice has been used in videos from animation to documentary narration.
Statement
Lacuna was inspired by the experiences of a close friend of mine. As our friendship evolved over the course of a year, I observed his attempts to navigate the ideas of love, art, and technology as three seemingly opposing forces in his life, amidst mid-twenties ennui.
Ultimately, Lacuna is about coming into contact with yourself as a young person in a hyper-digitised, politicized, modern world. The film articulates this through an visual intersection of the ideas of hyper-masculinity and cultural displacement.
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Diamond Tat
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Diamond Tat is a Sydney-based cinematographer and storyteller. She works across genres such as narrative, documentary and experimental art. She is passionate about cinema, visual storytelling and deeply interested in human-focused stories that explore multifaceted experiences.
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George Truong
PRODUCER
George is a third-year student studying Communications (Media Arts and Production)(International Studies) at UTS. He grew up in South-West Sydney and has a deep interest in international film.
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Victoria Zhu
EDITOR AND CAMERA ASSISTANT
A student at the University of Technology Sydney studying a Bachelor of Communications (Media Arts and Production), Victoria is eager to grow her knowledge of the film industry across a broad range of roles and mediums.
