“I used to feel miserable and sad because I couldn’t fulfil my desires, but then I decided to get fucked by life. You see, life is committed to bending you over…" This is the life motto of Casper, the main character of Impostors and Ponies by German director-actor Timo Jacobs, who also stars as the luckless screenwriter. This sentence also works as the leitmotif of the film itself, which had its world premiere at the 58th Hof Film Festival (22-27 October).

It all starts at a Berlin sausage stand: while Casper, who only became vegan to please his ex-girlfriend, filmmaker Justine Laser (Kathrin Laser), has a vegan currywurst, his friend Max (Max Bertani) announces that Casper’s screenplay Bond’s Daughter has apparently been stolen by Justine and is now nominated for a European Film Award in Reykjavik. The two decide to travel to Iceland to set things straight. However, Justine manages to avoid the two of them with a great deal of cunning – among other things, she gets the leading actress of Bond's Daughter, Katlyn Cesta (Gaia Arellano Reynoso) to administer knockout drops to Casper, so he misses the award ceremony. 

The only way to get Casper’s screenwriting credit back now is to follow Justine to LA and move in with her aunt and uncle and a bunch of free-roaming ponies. In Hollywood, things become even more complicated: the film within the film, Bond’s Daughter, is about a virus putting an end to the meat industry, and enrages former meat vendor Richie Burns (Chad Anderson), now out to kill everyone involved in making the film. 

Impostors and Ponies is a whacky mix of film genres ranging from the dark comedy to the road movie. While it takes aim at the Hollywood dream factory and the audiovisual industry as a whole (“You can wait a long time for friends here, they’re all assholes.”), it also criticises the double standard of “nutritional belief systems” that are particularly widespread in the film business. At some point, Justine tells her main actress Katlyn not to let anyone see her at McDonald’s, so as not to get in the way of the film's message. 

Casper's character oozes melancholy, echoed cinematographically by the stunning images filmed in Iceland. The antihero lets life treat him like a punching bag, but he lacks determination and grit. It would have added extra spice to the movie to see him rear up and take control of his life a little more. Surprise predominates as a stylistic device, because Casper’s passivity leaves little room to create tension, even in his interactions with Justine. The film’s humour is rooted in its honesty and grounded style. Ultimately, it is his endearing friend Max's fate that leads Casper to surpass himself and finally stand up for something.

Impostors and Ponies was produced by Christopher Cornelsen of Cornelsen Films and Jacobs's own Jacobs Productions.