In the not-too-distant future, an all-seeing surveillance state conducts “dream audits” to collect taxes on the unconscious lives of the populace. Mild-mannered government agent James Preble travels to a remote farmhouse to audit the dreams of Arabella “Bella” Isadora, an eccentric, aging artist. Entering Bella’s vast VHS archive, which contains a lifetime of dreams, Preble stumbles upon a secret that offers him a chance at love—and hope for escape.
Production
Every frame handmade: painted sets, puppet creatures, pure analog love.
Direction
Birney & Audley built a universe from garage sale aesthetics.
Cinematography
16mm grain meeting digital rotoscope fever dreams.
Director
Albert Birney
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The directors literally built the Strawberry Mansion set in a family member's actual farmhouse over several years, shooting around their day jobs.
The film's tax-on-dreams premise was conceived before similar surveillance anxieties went mainstream, making its 2021 release accidentally prescient.
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