My friend Miles
The fabulous journey of a zero with a thousand faces
Current state:
In postproduction
Written and directed by:
Pieter Solta
Camera:
Son Doan
Sound:
Diego Wunsch
Produced by:
Pieter Solta
Associate producers:
Anne Doelman, Colin McKeown
Editor:
Music:
Marie-Hélène Dozo
Mattias Decraene
With:
Miles O’Shea
Molnar Levente
Sophie Decleir
Katrin Lohmann
Jan Bijvoet
With the support of:
Flanders Tax Shelter
In Berlin, in an era where everyone around him fights for the right to be themselves, Miles celebrates the right to be no self. When his friend Solta arrives, determined to capture that no-self on film, a playful hide & seek as well as a potentially dangerous journey unfolds.
If someone is always now,
and now is always already gone,
then where is he?
"There goes my handyman. Got a problem? Call Miles, and the difference between a problem and a solution will dissolve."
"That's where he is, that's where he will be hiding: in the light of a marble. And you'll say scandalous, ridiculous, but that's his liberation front, the paramilitary of light in a marble.
"Our oblivion of the land that not yet is, is unbearable. For him, and for us."
"And will you now always be a dog? Or just for the occasion?"
My friend Miles
(doesn’t like short titles, he doesn’t like titles at all, he likes flower petals that disappear when you hold them between your fingers too bad if that’s too long for a title you rather get rid of your title-titles because your title-title-titles have gotten rid of you long time ago is the only true title of the film.)
The fabulous journey of a zero with a thousand faces
Solta tries to portray his elusive friend Miles: a wandering, playful spirit with political gusto. Solta fails. Because Miles is strictly unruly, celebrating his no-self, and he invites everyone at the party.
Awards and festivals:
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Split International Film Festival, Croatia, Jury award, special mention
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Karatsu International Film festival, Japan, Best screenplay
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Interrobang, Des Moine Arts festival, US, Best narrative fiction feature
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Mannheim Arts and Film festival, Germany, Best feature film
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Fisheye festival, UK, Best experimental feature film
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Influx Film Awards, US, Best cinematography
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Iconic Indie Film Festival, India, Best Director and Best Film
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Experimenta Bresil, Best film
Festival selections:
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Festival Transterritorial de cine underground, Argentina, November 2025
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Dublin Silk Road Festival, Ireland, November 2025
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Roscommon Film Festival, Ireland, November 2025
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Split Film Festival, Croatia, September 2025
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Karatsu International Film festival, Japan, July 2025
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San Fransisco Frozen Film Festival, July 2025
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Brussels International Film festival, BE, June 2025
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Brighton Rocks Festival, UK, June 2025
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Interrobang, Des Moines Arts Festival, Iowa, USA, June 2025
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Ischia Film Festival, Italy, June 2025
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Berlin Kiez Film Festival, Germany, July 2025
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Buenos Aires International Film festival, Argentina, March 2025
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Madrid Film Awards, Spain, March 2025
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Ottumwa International Film Festival, USA, March 2025
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Blow-Up Chicago International Arthouse Filmfestival, USA, January 2025
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LA International Artfilm Festival, USA, January 2025
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Cinema of the world International Film Festival, India, June 2025
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Dumbo Film Festival, Brooklyn, New York, USA, October 2025
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London Visionary Festival, UK, April 2025
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Lulea Film Festival, Sweden, April 2025
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Fillums International Festival, Pakistan, January 2025
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Wallachia Int’l Film Festival, Romania, January 2025
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Golden Femi Film festival, Bulgaria, June 2025
The British American philosopher Simon Critchley wrote about My friend Miles:
“Funny, weird and profound. An utterly brillant film”
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Written and directed by Pieter Solta.
-
Edited by Marie-Hélène Dozo
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With Miles O’Shea, Jan Bijvoet, Sofie Decleir, Katrin Lohmann, Molnar Levente,
Veroline Vanderbeek, Milan Van Dierendonck, Hella Pohl, Steve Mckee, Didi
Rausch… -
DOP: Son Doan
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Sound: Diego Wunsch
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With the support of Flanders Tax Shelter and the Belgian Tax Shelter regulation,
associate producers Anne Doelman and Thomas Vanderlinden.
Directors Statement
This film comes from the wild. Miles is a kind of Kaspar Hauser—without ID, without authority—covered only by his political urgency and drive to play. The film is it’s own authority. And nevertheless our common bastard child. Astonished by our oblivion of what the world could be. All around us, the reaction to the alienation caused by a globalization gone mad, is one of tribalization and identity formation, eloquently expressed by populist patriots. I want to engage in joyful, playful and consoling resistance. The rise of identity-based fascism on the one hand, and the simple, direct pleasure of my friendship with Miles, are the inspiration for this film. It is my film zero. Starring a zero with a thousand faces. If we become who we are through the stories we tell about ourselves, and if we agree that we haven’t turned out all that well, then it is time to tell the stories through which we shape ourselves differently. Enter, an other cinematic language. My friend Miles is a speculative circus, a documentary without documents, an elegy for the future, a featherlight game, a little dance for a wounded world.
Picture Gallery
