THE ALICE PARADOX

Two Physicists create a wormhole which allows them to travel 15 minutes into the past, but in so doing create a paradox which opens up a new picture of reality and throws them into a dystopian alternate world.

OVERVIEW

Format:

Debut feature film by William Brooke, shot on Arri Alexa Mini using anamorphic lenses, runtime approximately 1hr 40 mins.

GENRE:

Sci-fi, drama, dystopian, alternative reality, thriller.

SYNOPSIS:

The Alice Paradox is thought provoking film about a brilliant young physicist named Alice. Based on a famous thought experiment in Quantum Mechanics, Alice travels through a wormhole, and is transported into an alternate version of the recent past where she encounters different versions of herself and her friend and lab partner, Bob. Trapped in a world that has diverged from ours during the Cold War, and which prizes collectivism over individuality, Alice is forced to confront her life choices, grappling with profound questions about identity, fate, and the search for meaning.


CAST

Jessica Kinsey

as Alice Narcissi

Bio

Feature film credits:

Legend Has It (Straightwire Entertainment/Brit Film)

Short film credits include:

Re-Birth (Superposition Studios)

To Womb It May Concern (20 South Street)

Spare Room (Matthew’s Garden)

Exposed (Set Films)

Can We Talk? (Coach House Productions)

Theatre credits include:

Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, An Inspector Calls, Christmas Carol (The Globe Players)

King Lear, Twelfth Night (The Yard Players)

Jeeves Takes Charge (Hugh Wooldridge/Tabard Theatre)

The Pelican (Chalk Roots)

Precious Little (Jack Studio Theatre)

Training:

Drama Centre, Vakhtangov Institute, Bristol University and Tring Park

Gwithian Evans

as Bob Echo

Bio

Theatre credits include: The Mousetrap (West End); Taking Steps (OSO Arts Centre); The Tailor-Made Man (StageDoor Theatre); The Elephant Song (Park Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Folksy Theatre); Jane Eyre (Minack Theatre); While The Sun Shines, Deathtrap, “Sailor, Beware!” (Manor Pavilion Theatre); Spider’s Web (The Pomegranate Theatre); The Lancashire Witches (The Cockpit Theatre); Albion (The Electric Theatre); DIG (Vaults Festival); The Shape of Things (Drayton Arms Theatre); Immortal (Watermans Theatre); The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Rose Theatre Kingston); The Snow Queen, The Last Post and Robin Hood (Hobgoblin Theatre Company). 

Voice-over credits include: Postman Pat in Man vs Train series (MASHED, Channel 4); Mad Jack in Fallout: London (Fallout 4 MOD); Eugenius! (The Turbine Theatre); Bob the Cowboy Builder (MASHED, Channel 4).

Film credits include: The Kings Man (Marv Tailor Productions); DANIEL (Short – Coffee Bean Productions); Until We Meet Again (Short – Yam Magar); The Fallen (Short – LFA)

Madeline Smith

as Agent Hobbes

Bio

Madeline began her career modelling in the first catalogue for BIBA, one of London’s most successful and iconic fashion labels, synonymous with the swinging sixties. Then followed a long stint as a model for Lucy Clayton.

After roles in several Hammer horror cult classics (including Taste the Blood of Dracula & The Vampire Lovers), Madeline was cast as Roger Moore’s first Bond girl in Live and Let Die. She cut her teeth in comedy in the TV series Doctor At Large, followed by a guest stint on The Two Ronnies.

From film and TV, she moved on to touring theatre and the West End, working opposite Alec Guinness and Donald Sinden, among others, before taking some time out of acting to get an English degree from Goldsmiths. Madeline loves to write and now contributes to The Oldie magazine.

Her daughter Emily was born in 1984, after which Madeline made the move into children’s TV, starring in Clive Doig’s Eureka for the BBC.

Jeffery Kissoon

as Dean Gorgias

Bio

Theatre includes: Mahabharata (Karna), Hamlet (Claudius), Ghost of Hamlet – Peter Brook

Midsummer night’s dream (Oberon) – Robert Lepage. National Theatre

Antony and Cleopatra (Title role, with Kim Cattrall) – Janet Suzman

Witness for the Prosecution – Lucy Bailey 

Merchant of Venice (Prince Morrocco, with Dustin Hoffman), Oedipus (The messenger Epidavros) – Peter Hall. National Theatre

The Tempest (Prospero), Othello, Macbeth (Title role)- Bill Alexander

Macbeth (Macduff)- David Thacker

Julius Caesar (Title role) – Gregory Doran.RSC

Julius Caesar (Brutus) – David Thacker

Caucasian Chalk Circle (The singer) -Simon McBurney. Theatre de Complicite

Life is a Dream (Basilio) – Calixto Biexto

Waiting for Godot (Vladimir) – Ian Brown. West Yorkshire Playhouse

War and Peace (Andrei) – Nancy Meckler. – Shared Experience

The Crucible (Danforth) Bristol Old Vic

Great and Small (with Glenda Jackson)- Keith Hack

Fix Up (Brother Kiyi) – Angus Jackson. National Theatre

Dr. Faustus (Lucifer with Ben Kingsley)- Adrian Noble. Manchester Royal Exchange

In the Jungle of the Cities (Shlink), Demons. Split moon 

Adapted, performed and directed: Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Warehouse Theatre London

Television Includes: The Canterville Ghost, Grange Hill, Space1999, Eastenders, Holby City, Spooks, Miss Marple, Grease Monkeys, Doctors, Casualty, Rocky Marciano is Dead, Cargo Kings, Z Cars

Film Includes: Star Wars; (The Force Awakens) Dirty Pretty Things, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Ham and the Piper, Crossing Bridges, Julius Caesar, The Mahabharata & Hamlet

As Director: Hamlet (Black Theatre Live), Dare to Do &The Meeting (Ka Zimba Theatre)

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Nubian Nights) Knock Down Ginger, Where the Flowers Grow, Naked Soldiers (Croydon Warehouse)

Phil Zimmerman

as Agent Cranny

Bio

Phil is an actor, comedian and songwriter with previous roles including Les Misérables (2012), Dracula Untold (2014) and Dumbo (2019).

Jun Noh

as Agent Snook

Bio

Jun Noh is a London-based actor. Born in South Korea, he trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and graduated in 2022. He is known for his roles in 49 Miles More, Shark City, Ozma, Tonight We Die, Meerkat, The Misconceptions of Love and Camomile.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT | BACKGROUND

As a former Physicist, I’m deeply passionate about conveying what modern physics tells us about the universe in ways that are exciting, intuitive and accessible. The film deals with a famous time-travel paradox, resolved by Quantum Mechanics with the idea that reality is a vast, multidimensional space with multiple interconnected potential worlds. 

I have long been fascinated by dystopian literature and film, which, even before Quantum Mechanics, explored the idea that our world could have taken countless alternate paths throughout history. Works such as Kafka’s The Trial and Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment have been significant influences. Nightmarish worlds where both the characters and their surroundings serve as menacing extensions of the protagonist’s inner turmoil.

The tone and cinematography draw heavily from sci-fi and film noir, with Orson Welles, Ridley Scott, and John Frankenheimer being key stylistic inspirations. Long shots, with characters and camera movements shifting in and out of multiple compositions, serve to reflect the evolving dynamics and tonal shifts within each scene. In-camera effects, including shift and tilt lenses and anamorphic mesmerisers, are used to replicate the space-distorting effects of the science in the film.

My aim is to evoke the same sense of awe and wonder I felt when first encountering these theories—feelings that challenge our perception of reality and what it means to be human. Through an intimate character study, the film explores these grand ideas within a self-contained myth about the human condition.

CREW

Natasha Marburger

Executive Producer

Bio

Natasha is a film producer and festival director. Her first feature was titled HOTSPOT (2013), premiered at the London Independent Film Festival and was distributed by LBYL and later online. Natasha’s second feature WE TOO, TOGETHER (2019) found a home on Amazon Prime both in the UK and USA. Natasha is currently focusing on audience engagement for films including distribution, marketing, promo, representing them at markets and festivals, and connecting films to wider industry professionals. 

She is the Festival Director of the London Independent Film Festival (LIFF), the Co-Founder and Festival Director of the Los Angeles International Film Festival (LAIFF) and more recently is managing the Berlin Independent Film Festival (BIFF) which runs alongside EFM and the Berlinale. Through this network of global independent film festivals, Natasha has a knowledge of international audiences and a film industry network worldwide.

In the past 15 years, Natasha has Produced and Associate Produced a number of award-winning short films, including LILIAN (2021) directed by and starring BAFTA-winner Cathy Tyson, SHALLOW (2012) starring Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey, The Guest) directed by Will Bridges; and SOULS (2015), starring Paul Barber (The Full Monty, Only Fools and Horses) directed by Dan Gage.

Linzy Attenborough

Producer

Bio

Linzy Attenborough is an accomplished filmmaker with over two decades of experience in writing, directing, and producing films. She began her career in 2005 by creating corporate videos, swiftly transitioning to music videos in 2006, and expanding into commercials by 2012. From 2014 to 2017, she produced a television program titled DKW, aimed at empowering women. Linzy’s impressive body of work includes multiple award-winning short films and documentaries, notably the dystopian short film Re-Birth, which she produced with the team behind The Tunnel. Additionally, she co-produced the micro-budget feature film Wolf Garden and served as Assistant Director on eleven feature films, including On The Line and Exodus. Driven by a passion for storytelling that challenges audience perceptions, Linzy continues to push creative boundaries in the film industry.

William Brooke

Writer/Director

Bio

William is a multi-award winning director and filmmaker embarking on his debut feature film. His previous two short films ReBirth and The Nature of Time appeared in 24 film festivals, winning 14 awards. A former Physicist, he has a passion for  creating stories that take us to the extremes of reality, to examine the implications on our humanity and experience of life. 

Ali Assad

Cinematographer

Bio

ALI is an award-winning DOP. He studied fine art at Goldsmith’s college. While there he became fascinated with film as a language for storytelling and communicating ideas. Ali has collaborated with Bob Mullan, Neil Marshall, Jonathan Glazer, Michel Gondry, Niall Johnson, Hettie Macdonald and Stefan Golaszewski. His feature credits include Mad To Be Normal, This Weekend Will Change Your Life, A Lonely Place To Die, The Wee Man and the highly acclaimed BBC series Marriage.

In the past 15 years, Natasha has Produced and Associate Produced a number of award-winning short films, including LILIAN (2021) directed by and starring BAFTA-winner Cathy Tyson, SHALLOW (2012) starring Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey, The Guest) directed by Will Bridges; and SOULS (2015), starring Paul Barber (The Full Monty, Only Fools and Horses) directed by Dan Gage.

Sara Pinar Onder

Production Designer

Bio

Sara is a Turkish filmmaker based in London, UK. As a writer-director, she has a special connection to objects and locations, treating them as integral characters in her stories. Her latest short film, Charette, received the Austin Film Festival – Enderby Entertainment Fellowship and has screened at festivals including the Austin Film Festival, Toronto Inside Out LGBT Film Festival, El Paso Film Festival, and Istanbul Film Festival.

A dedicated collaborator, Sara thrives working as a production designer and art director, committed to designing worlds that bring other directors’ visions to life. Her work spans short and feature films as well as music videos, taking her across the UK, US, and Turkey. Recently, her production design for William Brooke’s short film Rebirth earned the Best Mise-en-Scène award at the Hastings Rocks Film Festival.

Sara holds an MFA in Film and Media Production from the University of Texas at Austin. Before pursuing her MFA, she worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She also holds a BA in International Relations from Bilkent University and an MSc in Development Studies from Lund University.

Ashleigh Jane Bromberger

Make-up Artist

Bio

Ashleigh is a makeup artist based in London. With over 8 years’ experience in the industry, Ashleigh transitioned to freelancing in 2020, quickly establishing herself as a versatile professional across TV, film, commercial, and e-commerce projects. 

Ashleigh’s expertise in character design and makeup artistry has contributed to telling compelling stories on screen for both short and feature films.

She has worked with leading brands and networks such as BBC Sports, Amazon Prime, and Discovery+, as well as contributing to high-profile fashion and commercial campaigns for Fiorucci, Cancer Research UK, and Macmillan Cancer Support.

In 2022 Ashleigh was an integral part of the makeup team for the Queens Platinum Jubilee Celebrations for BBC Studios.

Amelia Ball

Stylist/Make-up Artist

Bio

Amelia Ball is a makeup artist, hair and wig stylist (WHAM=wigs, hair and makeup) who works within a range of different media; West End theatre shows, film and tv series and music videos. She has worked full time on West End theatre shows as a main team WHAM member; Back To The Future, Crazy For You and 9-5. Other recent work includes; Hades Town, Cabaret, Moulin Rouge, Sister Act, Mamma Mia ,Tina, Hamilton and Harry Potter And The Cursed Child. IMDb credits as a makeup junior includes; The rising -sky Tv series Prize fighter-Amazon film and short films: Seal skin (makeup designer), Rosie and Instinct. Music videos ; Aj Traceys Summertime shootout.

Roly Witherow

Composer

Bio

Roly Witherow is a composer for film, TV, and theatre. His credits include Channel 4’s On The Edge, 2015 BIFA-nominated film Gregor and BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? Roly also recently scored the feature documentary Frank Capra: Mr America which premiered at Venice Film Festival. With a diverse compositional voice that includes orchestral, electronic and folk influences, Roly is known for writing distinctive and memorable scores which form an integral part of a film’s storytelling.

Contact

 info@natashamarburger.com