Looping ambience

APSENS

Based on true events
In development

In the silence of the mountains, one disappearance unravels a truth too dark to face.

Feature film
Psychological Thriller / Drama
Switzerland
In Development
Based on true events
APSENS poster

Brief Synopsis

Seven years after Sofia’s disappearance, Matias still lives in the shadow of that night — a man torn between love, guilt, and the need to know. What began as grief has hardened into obsession, as he chases every fragment, every lie, at the cost of his own sanity.

Just as he is ready to give up, an unexpected clue pulls him back into an investigation that twists from intimate drama into a relentless thriller, leading him toward a horrific truth: that real evil can live quietly behind the face of a normal family man. Inspired by interwoven true stories, APSENS exposes the darkness hiding in the most ordinary lives.

Credits

  • Written by Nicolas Bachmann
  • Country Switzerland
  • Genre Thriller / Drama
  • Status In development

Characters

Sofia
The absence that shapes everything

Sofia

Sofia is remembered as warm, grounded, and quietly resilient — the kind of person whose softness hid a surprising strength. A nurse dedicated to others, she carried wounds she rarely spoke about and dreams she shared only selectively. Her disappearance is not just an event but an emotional crater; the silence she leaves behind exposes tensions and truths the people around her spent years avoiding. Sofia becomes a paradox in the story: fully gone, yet more present in her absence than she ever was alive — the force that reshapes Matias, destabilizes Luca, and reveals the fault lines beneath the film’s seemingly ordinary world.

Matias
The man who needs the truth more than peace

Matias

Matias appears loyal, steady, and rational — the partner who never stopped believing Sofia deserved answers. But beneath that devotion lies a deeper fracture: a guilt he has carried alone, convinced he failed her long before she vanished. His search is not driven solely by love; it is a desperate attempt to escape the weight of not knowing, to silence the possibility that he could have done more. What begins as a hunt for answers becomes a slow, dangerous unraveling of himself. As he gets closer to the truth, it becomes clear that Matias is not just chasing what happened to Sofia — he is running from the person he fears he might become once the truth is revealed.

Luca
Ordinary until he isn’t

Luca

Luca is the kind of man who blends effortlessly into everyday life — calm, polite, and impeccably composed. His routines are precise, his answers careful, his friendliness convincing. But the closer Matias gets, the more Luca’s warmth feels rehearsed, as if he’s spent years perfecting a version of himself meant to be trusted. Beneath that controlled exterior lies something colder — an intelligence shaped by secrets he cannot afford to let surface. And as Matias pushes toward the truth, Luca’s composure becomes its own quiet warning: some men survive by hiding in plain sight.

Mood Stills

EXT MOUNTAIN TRAIL - DAY
EXT MOUNTAIN TRAIL - DAY
EXT TRAIL PARKING - DUSK
EXT TRAIL PARKING - DUSK
INT MATIAS'S APPARTMENT - NIGHT
INT MATIAS'S APPARTMENT - NIGHT
INT EMERGENCY ROOM - NIGHT
INT EMERGENCY ROOM - NIGHT
EXT MOUNTAIN CABIN - NIGHT
EXT MOUNTAIN CABIN - NIGHT
INT MATIAS'S APPARTMENT - DAY
INT MATIAS'S APPARTMENT - DAY
EXT FOREST EDGE - DUSK
EXT FOREST EDGE - DUSK
EXT MOUNTAIN TOWN - NIGHT
EXT MOUNTAIN TOWN - NIGHT

Biography

Nicolas Bachmann
Nicolas Bachmann
Swiss–Uruguayan Writer & Director

Nicolas Bachmann is a Swiss–Uruguayan filmmaker with a background that bridges high-end production, documentary work, and live broadcast. He began his career at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival (FIAPF Category A), coordinating talent, juries and large-scale industry events.

In Buenos Aires he co-founded a production company and directed or produced work for La Nación, Unilever Latin America, Planeta DeAgostini and UNICEF-backed initiatives, while collaborating with agencies across South America and Europe. His credits include Police Certifiable, Better Than Therapy (The Police reunion), and documentary projects selected for Cannes Short Corner and the Beverly Hills Film Festival.

Now based in Switzerland, he works as a live director for SSR RSI while developing films focused on psychological tension and the hidden fractures inside seemingly ordinary lives. APSENS is his most personal exploration of that territory.

Statement from the Writer

APSENS begins with grief but is ultimately a film about guilt. Matias is not only mourning a woman he loved; he is haunted by the possibility that he failed her long before she disappeared.

His obsession with finding out what happened is less an act of devotion than a desperate attempt to clear himself in his own mind. The closer he gets to the truth, the more it becomes clear that knowing will not save him — it will strip away the last illusions he has about who he is.

The story unfolds in a world of quiet, recognizable evil: respectable homes, polite professionals, families that look “normal” from the outside. I am interested in the moment when the façade cracks and we see how far people will go to protect their comfort, their image, and their secrets, even when a life has been erased.

Materials

Professional package available on request for co-producers, festivals, and partners.

Synopsis & Treatment

Extended story outline and tone notes.

View synopsis

Screenplay

Feature-length script in advanced development.

Read script (Celtx)

Press Kit

Logline, synopsis, visuals, writer’s statement, credits.

Download press kit (PDF)

Production Notes

  • Format: Feature film (approx. 100 min)
  • Shooting: Planned in Ticino, Switzerland
  • Status: Story development
  • Language: English / Italian
  • Locations: Alpine region, hospital, residential interiors

Partners

  • Producer: Nicolas Bachmann
  • Development support:
  • In association with:

In Collaboration

  • Seeking experienced co-producers (CH / EU)
  • Open to sales & distribution dialogue
  • Festival & co-production market partners welcome
  • Industry readers: full dossier available on request

Creative Team

Nicolas Bachmann

Swiss–Uruguayan writer-director with experience across Mar del Plata IFF, international documentary and commercial work, and live directing for SSR RSI. With APSENS, he channels years inside high-pressure, real-world environments into a precise, character-driven thriller.

Producer

Currently produced by Nicolas Bachmann. Open to co-production partners in Switzerland and internationally.

Advisors & Partners

In discussion with key collaborators. Seeking alliances with experienced thriller producers, sales agents, and festival strategists.

Contact

For co-production, sales, festivals, markets or screener requests:

Email Nicolas Bachmann

Direct: nicolasbachmann@gmail.com

Follow & Screeners

Social and teaser links will be added as APSENS enters the festival circuit. For private screeners and additional materials, please get in touch directly.