When director Maartje Nevejan was a child she had absence epilepsy seizures, short moments of not being there. To experience other versions of reality and dimensions, brings you in a very lonely place. It is scary and fascinating at the same time. When her son was also diagnosed with absence epilepsy, they invented a game where they would find images in the outer world that would give them the “absence experience”.
This game was the base of this film. A film Nevejan was afraid of making for the medical science describes it for centuries as a condition without consciousness, a short cut in the brain, a nothingness.
This game was the base of this film. A film Nevejan was afraid of making for the medical science describes it for centuries as a condition without consciousness, a short cut in the brain, a nothingness.
In the film Nevejan goes on a journey with four young adults, who were part of the art project. They encounter neurologists, scientists and artists, wild wolves, black holes, Anish Kapoor Black and technological machines. How do our experience feel, taste, sound and smell like? How do these inner images occur? Are they real? Can we find a language to talk about it? Could these holes in our lives turn into portals towards new knowledge?
This mysterious non-being, on the bottom of our existence can give us, just as a dark night full of stars, a feeling of belonging and also create a huge fear in us.
writer and director: Maartje Nevejan
director of photography: Jean Counet
sound: Fokke van Saane
editor: Gys Zevenbergen
sound designer: Fokke van Saane & Alex Booy
composer: Alex Simu
commissioning editor: Barbara Truyen, VPRO
producers: Willemijn Cerutti for Cerutti Film
director of photography: Jean Counet
sound: Fokke van Saane
editor: Gys Zevenbergen
sound designer: Fokke van Saane & Alex Booy
composer: Alex Simu
commissioning editor: Barbara Truyen, VPRO
producers: Willemijn Cerutti for Cerutti Film
© 2019 Cerutti Film / VPRO / Zeppers
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