“The Villages” is an incredibly decadent residential facility in Florida, predominantly populated by well-off, white retirees who have chosen to pursue a sacred calling: to have fun while they can. Whole streets here are designed in the style of Golden-Age Hollywood. In this microcosm, this anachronistic caricature of society, Lance Oppenheim offers a portrait of four individuals who can’t quite manage to cash in on that promise of happiness. Loneliness, addiction and impoverishment just can’t be erased that handily by white picket fences, tennis, golf and Bermuda shirts. A documentary close-up characterised by carefully orchestrated images, the 26-year-old’s debut film traces the tears in the cocoon of affluence.

Lance Oppenheim is an award-winning filmmaker from South Florida/USA. His films show the lives of people who create homes in unconventional spaces and places. His work has been screened at film festivals across the world and has been featured at The Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian, and distributed online by “The New York Times” (as three Op-Docs) and “The Atlantic”. In 2019, he graduated from Harvard University’s Visual and Environmental Studies program. His first feature, SOME KIND OF HEAVEN, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Filmography (selection): 2011 FLIRTING AND DATING FOR DUMMIES, 2012 RECONCILIATION, 2014 THE OFF-SEASON, 2016 LONG TERM PARKING, 2018 THE HAPPIEST GUY IN THE WORLD, 2020 SOME KIND OF HEAVEN, 2021 THE PARADISE NEXT DOOR