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LIVING IN LIMBO

JEAN-LUC JULIEN (INDEPENDENT) - as PROD

Documentary - Development 2024

A failed, middle-aged filmmaker tries one last time to make the leap from short film to features while immersing himself in the international film festival circuit. It’s a comically poignant story exploring success and failure while considering whether one should hold on or let go of one’s dreams.

- Year of production
- 2024
- Genres
- Documentary, Comedy, Biography
- Countries
- USA, GERMANY
- Languages
- ENGLISH-UNITED STATES
- Synopsis
- What do you want to be when you grow up?
  
  "I want to be the most famous actress in Hollywood."
  - Nancy, 12, Los Angeles, USA
  
  "Spaceman, fireman, policeman. And doctor."
  - Lee, 8, Tokyo, Japan
  
  "Nothing. I just wanna have fun."
  - Maria, 14, San Jose, Costa Rica
  
  How does the answer to this question change over time? Is it different in your twenties, thirties or forties? Does it become obsolete in your fifties, sixties and beyond? What did you want to be when you were a kid? Did you get a chance to be it? Did you give up on your dreams or keep persevering until you reached them? Do you know someone who has finally (or sadly) given up on their dreams? Or someone who just won’t let go despite the wall of evidence pointing to the fact that he or she will never reach their goal? When is it too late to keep trying?
  
  Meet Mike. Middle-aged. Filmmaker. Failure.
  
  Maybe "failure" is too strong a word. Unless you compare him to Damien Chazelle, 2017’s Best Director Oscar-winner, who happens to be the youngest director (32) to win the golden statue in the history of the Academy Awards. Or Mike’s high school drama classmate who’s now a big-shot Hollywood producer working with the likes of Angelina Jolie and Robert Downey Junior. Or Mike’s Oscar-winning producer friend, who was actually going to produce a short film Mike wrote, and would have let him direct, before Mike’s friend won an Oscar and was nominated for another.
  
  Good news though! His latest short film “Stuck” was accepted into the Short Film Corner at Cannes during the most prestigious international film festival in the world! Sweet, right? Not really. Turns out it’s not that hard to get accepted after paying nearly $100 for the “honor.” Another 1,868 short films were also accepted and out of 18,070 total viewings at the Cannes Short Film Corner, only 3 people watched “Stuck.” And one of those people Mike actually asked to watch the film and waited outside until he was done. The other two viewers only watched the first 90 seconds of the film. Yeah. Bummer.
  
  After meeting Mike, and discovering he’s a pretty entertaining character despite his perceived failures, we decided to make a documentary about the failed middle-aged filmmaker trying one last time to make the seemingly impossible transition from short film to feature film while immersing himself in the international film festival circuit.
  
  Living in Limbo explores the varying definitions of failure and success in one’s career and life. We’ve all seen the documentaries and TV segments of the rich and famous who have made it. The rags to riches stories. The overnight successes. But what about the ones who haven’t made it? The ones who are still struggling? Or the ones who gave up their dreams for more pressing matters like paying the rent? One doesn’t need to be a math genius to figure out there are many more unsuccessful people in the world than successful ones. But success and failure are relative terms, right? Or are they?