In-Between

“In-between” names a condition of life lived at the threshold, neither fully belonging nor entirely excluded. Today, this condition extends beyond migration and culture: we exist between nations and cultures, and increasingly between the human and the artificial, between organic consciousness and computational intelligence.

The film In-Between takes this threshold as its core. The wanderer moves through two contrasting landscapes: a vibrant alien forest with dissonance, and an orchid garden that offers brief flashes of recognition. The wanderer carries an orchid as their heart, a symbol of self, searching for a world that can truly reflect who they are. The film continuously shifts in-between the two environments, placing the wanderer in an extended state of searching. Their monologues circle around the question: can a true self exist in spaces that are always shifting?

By the end of the film, the two environments merge into a space where their qualities coexist. The finale refuses the fantasy of stable resolution and emerges as a heterotopic condition: a space that contains incompatible realities without reconciling. Belonging and estrangement are intertwined. Identity is continuously shaped by shifting relationships and contexts.

The audio work features recorded voice and instruments, DSP-processed sampling, wave-table synthesizer, and a concluding voice element generated using AI voice conversion trained on the composer’s voice. The monologue by the end acts as a post-bodily voice that reaches a liminal sonic state, neither entirely human nor entirely artificial, becoming the film’s ultimate in-between presence. The wanderer becomes an epitome of contemporary existence: living between embodiment and digitization, selfhood and simulation.

Ultimately, In-Between invites viewers into a reflective space. It explores how we live in a world that is always changing, where belonging is never permanent; it appears, fades, and reappears in different forms.

Director: Anna Ren

Country: United States