People Next Door 2017 / Imagine / Poland, France, Portugal, United Kingdom 2012
Sight-impaired instructor Ian arrives at a renowned boarding school to acquaint a group of similarly disabled students with the techniques of spatial orientation. The group is soon well-attuned to his unorthodox teaching methods; however, their increasing desire to learn more about their surroundings brings with it a painful discovery. A poetic film about the boundless imagination that awakens from a world of perpetual darkness.
Behind a high wall in sun-bathed Lisbon lies a renowned boarding school where Ian, a blind spatial orientation instructor, has arrived to work with a group of visually impaired residents. His experimental sessions, based on the principle of echolocation, fill the students’ monotonous days with a sense of awareness they’ve never experienced before. An unknown world opens up before them – a tantalising adventure that nevertheless carries a deadly risk. This considerable element of danger is understood not only by Eva who, thanks to Ian, has finally conquered her solitude, but also by the head doctor, for whom such unorthodox methods are insupportable. In his third feature Andrzej Jakimowski brings to the screen a poetic reflection of the way the sight impaired perceive their surroundings, and he succeeds in creating a faithful cinematic vision that draws together two seemingly conflicting worlds. He effects the colour of darkness using a subtle palette of sounds and images, thereby shifting viewers’ perceptions in such a way that they “see” via other senses. In this respect the film leans on exceptionally difficult, yet entirely natural performances from Edward Hogg and Alexandra Maria Lara in the lead roles.
Kamila Dolotina
105 min / Color, DCP
Director Andrzej Jakimowski
/ Screenplay Andrzej Jakimowski
/ Dir. of Photography Adam Bajerski
/ Music Tomasz Gąssowski
/ Editor Cezary Grzesiuk
/ Art Director Ewa Jakimowska
/ Producer Andrzej Jakimowski
/ Production Zjednoczenie Artystów i Rzemieślników Sp. z o.o.
/ Coproduction KMBO Production, Filmes do Tej
/ Cast Edward Hogg, Alexandra Maria Lara
/ Sales Beta Cinema GmbH
Andrzej Jakimowski (b. 1963, Warsaw) studied philosophy at Warsaw University and then film direction at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television of the University of Silesia in Katowice (1990). He began making films in the early 1990s, chiefly documentaries and short features. His feature film debut Squint Your Eyes (Zmruż oczy, 2002) won the SKYY Prize at the San Francisco IFF and also four Polish Academy Awards. Five years later his poetic film Tricks (Sztuczki, 2007), depicting children’s and adults’ differing views of life, won around thirty awards at international festivals all over the world. Different ways of seeing was also the key theme of the film Imagine (2012), which gently opens up the world of the visually impaired, taking us into their colourful realm.
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