The Saars CoV 2 Pandemic situation has changed the world as we know it. With ‘lockdowns’ and ‘isolations’ creeping into our everyday vocabulary and infiltrating our mindscape even sooner, we can willingly accept today, concepts and ideas that were alien to us but a few months ago. But, even in such difficult times of new unknown challenges and dangers, the creative force that drives a man to find beauty in everything around him is happy to find fresh fodder for his art. The pandemic, the resulting lockdowns and our medical response have created opportunities for new art projects that explore the human response to this novel situation.
‘Amor and Psyche’ is an experimental film from Directors Verena Stenke and Andrea Pagnes. The creators tell us that the seed for this film was sworn during a phase in early 2019 when Stenke had to undergo clinical isolation. It is but quite fitting that in 2020 when the whole world went into a lockdown, these seeds germinated, and the film ‘Amor and Psyche’ became the fine tree and a striking example of experimental filmmaking. Poetic in its form, the film is a bold new experiment using what the artist calls her ‘inner portraits’. The film explores creative visualizations of what breath means to life and living forms. With the use of elemental effects, like the once ‘on-camera effect’ of multiple exposures, and using imagery from her medical records, superimposing them with a poetic narrative, ‘Amor and Psyche’ decodes our breath in four short chapters.
‘Amor and Psyche’ is an exercise in comprehending the importance of one’s breath, the gravity of which extorts itself when faced with its imminent loss. The longing to prolong one’s breath for as long as possible is what has shaped history since the beginning of time. And for a long time into the future, it will continue to remain so.
