Erik Martinez

Magic Lantern Erik Martinez

EXT. EXISTENTIAL VOID - DAY EZRA MORALES (17, straight-edged, weird). A nerd with lofty dreams of becoming a filmmaker, but is held back by a confused grief for his alcoholic mother. When Ezra graduates one year after his mother's death, it kickstarts a summer that threatens to change everything he holds dear. His friends bring him into the rambunctious world of high school parties he avoided for so long, a rift in his family and within himself widens, and the one person he thought he could count on seems to be outgrowing him. And worst of all? His only outlet is a truly, truly terrible sense of humor. Magic Lantern tells the semi-autobiographical story of Ezra's last summer as a kid as he struggles between deciding to hold on to the life he had with his friends and mom, or to let go of it all and embrace the after-credits scenes of adolescence.