Helen Anna Flanagan

Burnt Toast is a contemporary ghost story that blurs the boundaries between illusion, delusion, and performance, resurrecting the presence of legendary British TV personality Tommy Cooper, who died mid-performance in 1984. Blending VHS footage, archival materials, and a trained Tommy Cooper impersonator, the film follows Phil, an unemployed magician trapped in the decaying home of the director’s late schizophrenic uncle. Through a hallucinatory act punctuated by trademark jokes and failed magic tricks, Phil navigates the alienation of late capitalism, touching on social class, identity, mental health, and delusion.