Last week, Moonlight and Green Room distributor A24 put out a mysterious trailer that didn’t seem tied to any of the company’s previously announced films. The teaser’s total lack of information and ominous sci-fi tone seemed designed specifically to get the internet excited, especially since films like 2015’s Ex Machina (an A24 film, naturally) have proven that audiences are still hungry for clever, artsy genre movies.
Well, if there’s one thing the internet can do it’s solve a mystery, and the detectives at The Film Stage have already cracked this one open (via /Film). Apparently, a reader tipped off the site that a shot from a Sundance short called Toru matched a scene from the secret teaser, prompting The Film Stage to dig up set photos for Toru that also match up with things seen in the teaser. Ergo, The Film Stage concluded that the mystery trailer is for Toru, a 14-minute short film directed by Jonathan Minard and Scott Rashap.
As for what Toru actually is, the Film Stage report explains that it’s about a baby boy—Toru—who is born with a “fatal lung condition.” He only has a few days to live, so his parents put him through a high-tech experiment that can “simulate a full life in a matter of days.” Toru has Japanese dialogue and English subtitles, and it’s premiering at Sundance later this year.
You can see the (formerly mysterious) trailer below.
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