SYNOPSIS:

In a near-future city where giant public screens loop atomic explosions and flashy ads across rooftops and plazas, two citizens engage in a quiet but heated debate. One sees these screens as a form of manipulation — noise that blinds people from reality. The other believes they’re a modern solution to an evolving society’s needs: compact, visual, always available, and shaping how people discover what they desire. That night, the skeptical man falls into a strange sleep. Within his dream, he steps inside a massive television and begins wandering through a surreal, fractured metropolis. Flying vehicles drift over crumbling buildings, synthetic lights hum songs into the night, and prosperity is advertised even where poverty thrives. As he moves between zones of extreme modernity and neglected decay, his perception blurs. Are these places real? Are his choices his own? What begins as a dream becomes a confrontation with a deeper question: in a world shaped by images, do we still know what we want — or have our desires been programmed? Phantom City is a hauntingly poetic short film that explores consumerism, illusion, and the fine line between dreams and control in an age of endless screens.