Ai: Below the Surface

Dreams are impressions that move beyond any distinction of fact or fiction. Nonetheless, dreams are a central part of our daily reality. While dreaming we experience disjointed narratives, abstract images, and glimpses of the kaleidoscopic fragments of our imaginative mind that elude any attempt of documentation. These visual impressions are completely personal and trying to share them with others confronts us with the difficulty of presenting our dreams as we really experienced them: uncontrolled and illogical. The experimental film Ai – Below the Surface creates a waking experience of the act of dreaming and a dreamscape in which any distinct subjectivity of the dreamer dissolves and leaves the spectator with both the essence of dreaming and cinema: experiencing images.

  • Kathy Janet Wieczorek
    Director
  • Kathy Janet Wieczorek
    Writer
  • Kathy Janet Wieczorek
    Producer
  • Nils Kruger
    Music
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    21 minutes 18 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 4, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Queen Mary University of London
Director Biography - Kathy Janet Wieczorek

Kathy Janet Wieczorek (1993, Germany) is a filmmaker and artist based in London, UK. Drawing from her studies in Art History, Media Studies and Film Studies, she connects theoretical and film practical approaches. Her work focusses on topics highlighting the narrow line between fiction and non-fiction and the alien in society. Understanding film as an art form, she strives to find new ways to tell narratives and challenge the possibilities of filmmaking.

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Director Statement

'Ai - Below the Surface' is an experimental and surrealistic short movie. The initial interest in choosing dreams as the central topic of my film was that dreams are an intangible phenomenon which barely seems to be describable not to mention filmable. The main premise of the movie was to create a document (not a documentary) of the approach of catching the dreams of the fictional character and alter ego of the director 'Ai'. The camera is used as a medium to catch the dream of the protagonist. The movie has many references to artists such as Maya Deren, Stan Brakhage, Mamoru Oshii and Yayoi Kusama - to only mention the most prominent ones. In the movie, we experience the result of the fictional approach of documenting the undocumentable.