BAD THOUGHTS:

Short Film

Bad Thoughts is an experimental documentary short film adaptation of a prose piece by the same name, written and performed by up and coming Canadian author Nada Alic. The film is directed by Hyla, shot by Spanish cinematographer Jessica Steiner (Daughter of the Lake) with original music by members of The Local Natives.

In the fall of 2018, Nada endured a brief and mysterious bout of vertigo which kept her in bed for two weeks. Bored and restless, she began writing down any random thought that came to mind. Given the internal and private nature of thought, most of them were unspeakable, embarrassing or bad. She quickly accumulated dozens of “bad thoughts” which she later performed as a public confessional during a literary reading a few weeks later. Hyla, who was in the audience that evening, approached her with the idea to collaborate on a short film about Bad Thoughts.

The resulting film follows Nada throughout her day in Los Angeles, as she recites a series of bad thoughts in her mind. The film’s themes grapple with the existential to the mundane, in her attempts to transform herself externally through changing her appearance, navigating new social and spiritual terrain in an effort to connect, to transcend her own thought loop. Her thoughts both act as an oppressive force (negative, self-critical, hopeless) and as a channel for wonder and contemplation (her childlike observations, her longing to connect) creating a tension that feels familiar to anyone with a mind, to anyone who attempts to heal themselves with the same thing that makes them sick. Everyone contains a universe within them, one that is neither good nor bad, depending on what we do with them or who’s listening.