A young neuroscientist, numbed out in the rat race of New York City, unexpectedly receives a series of notebooks that once belonged to a childhood friend whose suicide remains a mystery. The bizarre short stories in these notebooks (sci-fi, fantasy, noir) open up a world of wild imagination, danger, and intrigue, revealing clues about what really happened to his friend. As he starts to rediscover his excitement for life and adventure through these stories, his sense of wonder is reignited, blending the real with the surreal and setting him on a path of self-discovery and possibly self-destruction.

SYNOPSIS:

Paper Birds is an offbeat dramedy about friendship, restless youth, grief, and the power of the imagination. JACK is a 27-year-old neuroscientist, coping with a recent break up and numbed out by the frenetic rat race of the city. He spends his days in the lab studying depression and anxiety in mice by running them through a variable reward maze while avoiding his ex-girlfriend Natalie at work. He spends his nights with his best friend DAVID, a part-time artistic dilettante and full-time BS artist whose magnetic charm makes him the life of the party. The missing link between them is their friend NOAH whose suicide remains a mystery.

When Jack unexpectedly receives a series of Noah’s notebooks from his mother, the bizarre short stories in the notebooks (noir, fantasy, sci-fi) open up a world of wild imagination, danger, and intrigue, revealing clues about what really happened to his friend. Jack becomes immersed in the stories, reading them everywhere – especially a noir private eye story concerning the mysterious kidnapping of young boy. As he starts to rediscover his excitement for life and adventure through these stories, his sense of wonder and imagination is reignited, blending the real with the surreal and setting him on a path of self-discovery and possibly self-destruction.

PAPER BIRDS