FEEL MEMORY is a series of non fiction films which explore memory through personal stories guided by the science of memory and imagination.
In an interview for the project with neuroscientist Daniela Schiller, she observed: “Memory is a form of time travel into the past. Imagination can be a form of travel not bound to any time.”
People who suffer from PTSD cannot access their imagination when remembering a trauma. Because of this their traumatic memories remain stuck. Psychiatrist Bessel Van Der Kolk explains in his book The Body Keeps the Score:
“When compulsively pulled back to the past without imagination, there is no hope. Imagination is an essential launchpad for making our hopes come true.”
This series explores how we can break through the traumatic walls of memory with imagination. Imagination is the launchpad for hopes and dreams for our futures. Living within the confines of traumatic memories limits what we are able to plan for our futures. Freeing traumatic memories and melding them with imagination opens up a new way of dreaming, thinking and living.
Each short film combines interviews with archival material, live action and hand painted animation.
Artistic Vision: Told from the Artist’s POV with intimate voice over, the tone is bittersweet, showing many sides of memory from nostalgia to the haunting nature of traumatic memories. Transitions between live action and animation happen in the studio, through the Artist’s canvas. By combining interviews and archival footage with animation I portray the ways memory joins the surreal with the biographical, offering insights into the inner dialogues of the characters as they reimagine their life stories. The hand painted animation represents the richness of our inner worlds, while adding a beautiful and unique visual dimension to the film.
