Experiencing Interruptions?

Anamnesis: A Film About Forgetting

The filmmaker investigates his memories of the death of his childhood best friend Dominic at the age of 11. A hybrid documentary, it’s a personal investigation of PTSD and a search for a visual memory that has been forgotten, or perhaps deliberately hidden for years.
The film's 3 parts takes Neville through his own reflections, an interview with his sister and an imagined conversation with his friend Dominic.
Using found footage and original photography and a striking sound design, Neville communicates the relationship between the interplay of memory-making and sense-making and the reconstruction process that enables our past and present to help us make sense of who we are

  • Neville Elder
    Director
  • Neville Elder
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    37 minutes 44 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 8, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Hunter College
Director Biography - Neville Elder

Neville Elder started working as a news photographer in the 1990's in London. He moved to New York in 2001, where he continued to freelance as a photographer and writer. In 2010 he started to produce and direct music videos and digital content. He now teaches film production and makes experimental documentaries. Neville has just completed the Integrated Media Arts MFA program, at Hunter College (CUNY) in New York City.

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Director Statement

In the broadest sense of the word I’m a storyteller, I write stories and songs, I make narrative films and documentaries. But most of my time these days is taken up with making non-fiction short films. Well, when I say non-fiction, you might want to take that with a pinch of salt.

My themes are memory, trauma in the interior and exterior world and how they overlap, the family — whatever that means — and its ability to change to survive, or resist and collapse.

As an educator, I can teach anyone the technical aspects of cameras and sound, but I can’t teach people how to tell a story if it doesn’t come from the heart. And it is only after a safe space has been established — and the paradox of risk and safety maintained — that students can explore their ideas and make films they feel worthy of. This is a method that will translate seamlessly from in person, to the online classroom, and back again.

Recently I completed an hybrid documentary with a non-linear narrative built from found footage and my own video. "Anamnesis: A film about Forgetting" is a personal film — I recount a trauma in my past — a short edit called "Anamnesis" (Part One") It was selected for several film festivals including the prestigious DOCNYC in 2021, and won Best Short Doc at the Chicago Southland International Film Festival 2021