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WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY
MIKE KLUBECK

A FEATURE FILM IN DEVELOPMENT

An aspiring photographer begins to lose his grip on reality as he fears he is being replaced by a ghostly doppelgänger.

PHOTOCOPY

PROOF OF CONCEPT

Written & Directed by Mike Klubeck

Collin/The Doppelgänger…Dane Clarke II

Body Double…Andy Charles

Man in the Park…Isaac Nevrla

 

Director of Photography…Mike Klubeck

Assistant Camera…Nick Freeman

Gaffer…Daniele Sestito

Production Sound Mixer…Ian Hunter

Production Design... Mike Klubeck

Editor...Mike Klubeck

 

Colorist…Patrick Badescu

Composed by Antonio Romero

Post Sound Design and Mix by Tom Baylis

Music by…Beth Million

Special Thanks…Rommy Hidmi Harrison Allen Gregory Berg

Accolades:

Official Selection at National Film Festival For Talented Youth (NFFTY)
Official Selection at Respective of Jupiter
Official Selection at Red Tower Spooktacular Film Festival

Photocopy came from a time of stagnation and isolation. Graduating college into a tumultuous 2020 full of pain and self-discovery left me feeling changed — I was aware of my personal growth and felt closer to my true self, but simultaneously felt distant from the self I had known the rest of my adolescence. How could I feel so close yet so distant from my identity? What does that mean about who I truly am? What does it mean for my understanding of myself, for the people I love, if there is no single, constant me? I wrote these feelings into the mind of my protagonist, Collin, and personified the inner disconnect in the form of a doppelgänger. 

 

In our culture, the doppelgänger has often been used as a horror trope — a mysteriously familiar omen of death. Why is the idea of a doppelgänger so horrifying? It’s likely that seeing one's self would lead anyone spiraling into insanity, causing us to question our own identities and realities. However, what if these fears were unfounded? Instead of loosing a sense of identity by seeing ourselves, what if it actually allowed us to have a better understanding of our identity? Perhaps with an outside perspective, we can widen the lens we view ourselves through, and realize our identities comprise of so much more than our current trials and tribulations. I hope to subvert the classical horror trope by revealing the doppelgänger to not be the problem, but the answer.

 

I wrote Photocopy to explore the relationship my identity has with my adolescence as I transition to adulthood, merging psychological horror with the coming-of-age film to tell a story with both suspense and heart. I resonate most with films such as The Graduate and Lady Bird — films that make the audience consider their identities; their pasts, presents, and futures, and how they all contradict each other to tell us who we truly are. Writing this film has helped me realize that my identity isn’t one or the other; it isn’t just my past or just my present — it’s cumulative and ever-changing. 

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