Red Cockroaches (2003)

Set against the backdrop of a futuristic New York City besieged by acid rain and populated with mutated insects and flying cars, bartender Adam (Adam Plotch) repeatedly encounters a mysterious and enchanting young woman (Talia Rubel) who leaves behind a tooth on the subway, triggering an obsession that quickly disrupts the overall banality of his day to day existence. This enigma slowly begins reappearing in different aspects of Adam’s life; as a prospective roommate, during a graveyard tryst, and eventually as his long lost sister who’s recently awoken from a coma after being presumed dead in a car wreck ten years prior. Oddly, this new found revelation of sibling kinship does not bring a stop to the couples’ lustful impulses and sexually charged mind games, eventually leading to a blood soaked climax fueled by repressed familial abuse, fast food foreplay, and the ever watchful eye of the ominous DNA 21 Corporation.Armed with a $2,000 budget and a Canon GL1 camcorder, visionary Cuban born director (and recipient of the 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship) Miguel Coyula (Memories of Overdevelopment, Blue Heart) lensed this button pushing, mind-bending, surrealist Sci-Fi arthouse masterpiece (the first of a proposed trilogy), shooting solely on weekends over the course of two years in New York while attending the Strasberg Institute. The winner of over 20 film festival awards (including the top prizes at the 2004 DIFF and Microcinema Fest), Red Cockroaches remains a triumph of DIY and micro-budget video filmmaking, notable for its striking visuals, unique film language, and stylistic nods to the modern surrealist masters like David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky.