Director: Sagar Shiriskar
Summary: The film explores a statement made by filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami in a very candid interview- "I prefer the films that put the audience to sleep in the theatre. I think those films are kind enough to allow you a nice nap and not leave you disturbed when you leave. Some films have made me doze off in the theatre, but the same films have made me stay up at night and wake up thinking about them in the morning, and then for weeks." The film establishes the relationship of the audience, the projectionist and the film that is being screened. The audience is being filmed while the film is being projected, while all the nuances of the film projection mechanism can be seen. The film also explores the theme of isolation. The film within the film explores how learning to live with yourself is a necessary step in the development of the self, and thus a key to happiness. One of the members of the audience wakes up to register this. The projectionist too is seen working in isolation, and getting involved with the plot of the film being screened. Sleep and tranquility are motifs that run through the film, with the characters falling asleep through the screening, and the film itself inducing a strange sense of drowsiness- with the motion of the projector and the conversation in the film lulling the senses. Most importantly, the film is left open to individual interpretation. Does sleep disrupt or fuel imagination? Do thoughts flow from dreams, or are they a product of deep meditation? Many such questions will flow through a mind that explores the complex relationship between sleep and the imagination, and that is something this film seeks to explore.
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