Directed by Graham Mason, who also created 2018’s Reveries and 2020’s Reveries: Going Deeper, this was co-written by stars Matt Barats and Anthony Oberbeck, who play two drifters wandering through a desert.

The quote on this film is: “Who are those guys? Poets or something? I always see them around coffeeshops…no laptops…weird…are they artists? Philosophers?…They seem like they must be around 40…”

Or, as CUFF put it, “Reveries: The Mind Prison is a comedy movie/art film hybrid, a sprawling experiment in unbridled creativity and collaboration. Told through a combination of narrative scenes, abstract video montages, and meditative voice-overs, it’s best described as Aki Kaurismäki meets a lo-fi Koyaanisqatsi narrated by Steven Wright, or as Vulture magazine put it, “Like an Ayahuasca session conducted by Mitch Hedberg.” CUFF will host the World Premiere of the feature-length culmination of an eight-year collaboration between CUFF alumni Matt Barats, Anthony Oberbeck, and Graham Mason. The trio have worked on several films that have recently played CUFF, including 2023’s Cash Cow (directed by & starring Barats), 2023’s Dad & Step Dad (produced by Mason and wrote & starring Oberbeck), and 2024’s A Joyful Process (produced by Mason and starring Oberbeck). This is the third movie in a trilogy that includes the comedy art films Reveries (2018, 46m) and Reveries: Going Deeper (2020, 60m).”

What you get here is a journey. Two sunglasses-clad wanders in the desert trying to escape wherever we are, wherever we ended up, and hoping to get out alive. This trip isn’t for everyone, but for those ready for it, it is here.

Reveries: The Mind Prison screens as part of the 2025 Calgary Underground Film Festival, which runs April 17–27. For more information, visit https://www.calgaryundergroundfilm.org/.