ISLAND
Synopsis
Across the water on the island, four individuals experience the end of life. Showing rarely seen and intensely private events, the film follows the progression of illness for each character and, for one, the last days and hours of life, the moment of death, and after death care. A lyrical, slow cinema description of the temporality and phenomena of dying, this film sensitively witnesses the transition away from personhood.
This is a palliative island, the Isle of Wight, an enigmatic landscape where all around rituals persist. Parallel to bedside vigils and the rhythm of breathing, we see rescue owls on the hospice ward, the rugged coastline, and the constant ferry arrivals. A choir rehearses Brahm’s 'German Requiem'. In the hospital pathology lab, microscopic close-ups of cancer show the interior of the bodies, our biology, our creatureliness. Death is presented as natural and everyday but also unspeakable and strange.
Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018 - International premiere
http://www.hakawati.co.uk
Details
- Year
- 2017
- Type of film
- Features
- Running Time
- 90 mins
- Format
- HD 4k
- Director
- Steven Eastwood
- Producer
- Steven Eastwood, Elhum Shakerifar
- Editor
- Steven Eastwood, with Sergio Vega
- Director of Photography
- Steven Eastwood
- Funded by
- Arts Council England and Big Lottery
Genre
Production status
Complete
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Last updated 20th March 2018
