Currently in Production:

Title: '…'
Genre: Philosophical Drama.
Format: MiniDV.
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1.
Approx. Running Time: 6 mins.
Release Date: Winter 2007
Status: Post-production.

- Click here to see a gallery of images related to the production.

Synopsis:
On another plain of existence a canoe travels through the parting mist, along the River of the Dead. A dark, shadowy figure dressed in a hooded black robe stands at the rear of the canoe, paddling forwards, bathed in the cold, harsh moonlight. A man lies on the floor of the boat, pale, silent and motionless, his eyes firmly shut. He is naked, except for a small robe which covers his modesty. As the figure continues to paddle, the canoe heads towards a giant skull which has been carved into a rock face, the mouth of which forms the opening of a tunnel which the canoe enters. Inside the darkness of the tunnel, the man is awoken after passing through a shard of light. He is startled by his new location and asks the hooded figure where he is, but the figure ignores him. After continued requests, the figure informs the man that he cannot tell him where he is, as the man does not hold the vocabulary necessary to discuss his surroundings.

Further along their journey the man and the figure sit on the Other Shore, facing the fire that burns between them. The man is now beginning to comprehend the situation he is in, and, after expressing that he knows that he is no longer himself, asks the figure what exactly he is now that he is no longer himself. The figure responds by removing his hood, and the man is able to see for the first time what the figure really is: it is himself. He is shocked by this revelation, and, just as he begins to understand its meaning, a wind picks up, blowing both himself and his mirror-self apart. Like sand they blow, grain by grain, into the air, dancing under the cold, harsh moonlight.

Director's Statement:
The script for ‘…' was written using ideas culled from the many and varied interviews conducted for the documentary ‘Permanent End'. In this way, therefore, ‘…' can be seen as reflecting upon many different approaches to and ideas about death, and should be seen as a companion piece to the aforementioned documentary. Principally, ‘…' deals with issues of how death is unknowable to us, and how it is normally spoken about only in words that were invented by humans to discuss concepts which are also human constructions. In short: we can never know what happens after our lives are over, and thus all we can do is speculate, inventing our own views of what comes next. As the world of death is so unknowable, the film does not give any answers – for on this topic there are none – but instead presents viewers with inventive ideas that will hopefully lead them to give new thought to the subject of death, and more specifically the way that we approach and think about it.

Alex Barrett,
London, January 2006.

If you are a sales agent or distributor interested in acquiring the rights to ‘…', or a festival organiser interested in screening the film, then please contact us by emailing here.

Full cast and crew for ‘…':

The Figure/The Man: Michael Breen

Writer and Director: Alex Barrett
Producer: Maulin Patel
Executive Producers: Alex Barrett, Andrew Visser and Andrew Shau Seong Yap
Cinematographer: Ben Jones
Original Score: Verbal Vigilante Music
Editor: Andrew Visser
Production Designer: Andrew Shau Seong Yap

The making of this film would not have been possible without the kind support of Bristol Paint.
Please take the time to visit their website http://www.bristolpaint.com