PLAYLAND USA

A poetic time travel fantasy through the imagined history of the United States as a modern fairyland, along the traces of our desire for illusion and escapism – fatally bound between fact and fiction. PLAYLAND USA questions the possibilities and limits of the representation of history and is a self-reflection regarding film as a medium. The film draws a line in cinematic images from Noah’s Ark to the colonization of Mars and asks essential questions: What is seeing? How do we see the world? What is invisible, for us, for others? The director has made many “American Dreams” into one “American Nightmare”, inscribing quotes of pop culture and Hollywood into a biblical history. When the film recounts the shooting at the Batman premiere in Aurora, reality and fiction have finally merged.

Trailer

Director

BENJAMIN SCHINDLER studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Also active in the fields of virtual stage design, space and video installations, and as a cameraman, his films as a director include: COSTA DEL SOL (2010), CHELLAPONNU (2011), PLAYHOUSE OF A. (2013), and PLAYLAND USA (2019).

Benjamin Schindler photos © zeitgebilde Filmproduktion & Hübner/Wallenfels