Postcards to Alphaville

Postcards to The Mystery Man from Lost Highway by Dieter Van der Ougstraete and Ellen Ripley from Alien by Annie Higgie.

Part of what makes our favorite movies so precious is their finite nature. We’re thrust into instant relationships with a series of enticing celluloid strangers, and by the time we feel like old friends with the characters, we’re pulled away form their world forever. Barring an adequate sequel, we’re bound to those two piddly hours to dwell upon. We savor our friendship with repeated views, wistfully attempting to extrapolate from their actions what we think our old pals have gone on to do in their later lives. Often times it’s a good thing that films end when they do– no one needed to find out what happened to Sharon Stone’s character after the first Basic Instinct, for instance.

We appreciate the mystery, but the urge to reconnect lingers in our minds. That’s what makes Postcards to Alphaville, Paul Paper’s project prompting artists to draw postcards to their favorite film characters, so brilliant: rather than foolishly trying to solve the riddle behind these characters’ post-celluloid destinies, we’re simply given an outlet to express our longing, our friendship and our loss by revelling in these loving homages.

Annie Wilkes from Misery by Audrey Malo and Allen from Happiness by Jack Teagle.

Juror #4 from 12 Angry Men by Gediminas Šiaulys and Ben from Night of the Living Dead by Drew Beckmeyer.

Issac from Manhattan by Jose Cardoso and Suzy Brannon from Suspiria by Maaike Verwijs.

Blacky from Underground by Tom Edwards and Samuel J. Bicke from The Assassination of Richard Nixon by Linnéa Puranen.