NOCTURNE

Nocturne is a short documentary by Malva Soler, created in collaboration with Diego García (Projekt Gestalten). The film explores identity and how the club becomes a sanctuary for those who inhabit their identity from the margins. It challenges social constructs and doctrinal repression to explore the boundaries of morality. It is currently in distribution.

SINOPSIS

After a night of dancing, Malva rests her body, recalling those moments shared in community. Yet, a question haunts her: Why do I need to know who I am, when last night I could be so many things and nothing all at once?

The search for answers converges with the story of Diego, a Berlin-based producer and DJ. He shares how the Church attempted to redirect his sexual identity through exorcisms, and how that very same place, years later, became one of his sources of artistic inspiration. Under the shadow of trauma and the need for a haven, Diego finds another temple: the dance floor. A liminal space that enables a state of suspension, where the body enters a trance and morality dissolves. This is where Malva and Diego speak the same language, sharing that sense of freedom and dancing together.

But everything shatters at the memory of a friend’s passing—someone who also moved through the night. This brings us closer to the double-edged sword of hedonism: the desire to live or to escape, the constant friction between Eros and Thanatos. This raw sense of fleetingness—of experiencing this nocturnal transfiguration as something pure and pleasurable, yet impermanent—gives rise to the question that pierces through the film: Is the night a place to inhabit, or merely a space that exists in the imagination?