Hiroka Matsushima

Bella Vista is a fiction/documentary hybrid that tells the story of a woman at a crossroads. In the dead of winter in the mountain valley of Missoula, Montana, Doris has just returned to the U.S. after years teaching English abroad. At the local university, she forms a small community with her class of international students. But outside she is alienated, unable to form meaningful connections. Doris explores the town, coming across clues to a recent legacy of displaced persons: an old photograph of an Indian camp, a row of Japanese graves in the local cemetery. And she is haunted by a strange encounter with a boy, who lives in a motel on the edge of town. As winter begins to thaw, she and her students must consider the complexities of adapting and belonging. What if home is no longer a place, but just an idea? Could you lose yourself completely? The next decision they make will redefine not only their lives, but their very identities.

Jennifer is crafty, from her handmade puppets and dioramas to her homespun plot to kill her husband by way of an Airbnb guest-turned-lover. Jennifer’s husband, Brad, might seem like a clueless dick, but he’s actually one step ahead of her, as she plots his untimely demise, or does she? In the end…do they both win?