Experiencing Interruptions?

Prayer of the Sea

A composer recounts a dream from his youth that inspired the slow movement of his first string quartet, Prayer of the Sea. The dream, depicting a peaceful dissolution into the sea and wind, symbolized his future death. Decades later, rediscovering a drawing from the quartet's premiere - perfectly capturing the dream’s essence - revived its emotions. Now older, he reflects on the dream’s message: a serene acceptance of life’s inevitable end.

Prayer of the Sea is an audiovisual elegy offering a calm perspective on the universal experience of passing.

  • Martin Gerigk
    Director
  • Martin Gerigk
    Writer
  • Martin Gerigk
    Music composition and soundtrack
  • Martin Gerigk
    Animations and special effects
  • Martin Gerigk
    Editing
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Short, Other
  • Genres:
    Experimental, Animation
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2025
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    No Dialogue
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Martin Gerigk

Martin Gerigk (*1972) is a composer of contemporary music. His repertoire includes compositions for orchestra and chamber music, as well as several solo concertos. His works are performed both nationally and internationally, including in Korea, Japan, the USA, England, Finland, Austria, and Switzerland. In this context, he collaborates with renowned international soloists and ensembles.

In addition to his compositional work, Gerigk is known for his remarkable audiovisual art and experimental films, which explore the inherent synesthetic connections between sound and visual perception. Beyond creating interwoven landscapes of music, natural sounds, and video sequences, a significant aspect of his art is illustrating the hidden poetry of natural phenomena and scientific concepts.

His experimental films have won several international awards and have been screened at numerous prestigious festivals - some of which are Academy Award qualifying - such as the Seattle International Film Festival, Tirana International Film Festival, Thomas Edison Film Festival, Salerno International Film Festival, Asolo Art Film Festival, Montecatini International Short Film Festival, USA Film Festival, Festival International du Film de Nancy, International Digital Arts Festival Videoformes, Girona Film Festival, Columbus International Film & Animation Festival, Thess International Short Film Festival, New Jersey Film Festival, Humboldt International Film Fest, Sydney International Film Festival or Fargo Film Festival.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

As a music composer, I occasionally dream of complete compositions. When I wake up, I simply write them down. When I was about 20 years old, I dreamt of such a piece for a string quartet. In the dream, I was standing in the surf of a cold sea, facing north. Then, I dissolved into the wind and the sea. It was clear that the dream symbolized my own death in the future. Yet, there was nothing sad about it; it felt good and liberating. It was like a vision, a gentle prophecy.

The entire dream was accompanied by calm string sounds, which I wrote down upon waking. I called it Prayer of the Sea. The music became the slow movement of my first string quartet.

At the premiere of the string quartet, a man in the audience made a small drawing during the performance. I didn’t know him, but after the performance, he gave me the drawing. To my surprise, he had captured the essence of my dream in his art.
Now, many years later, I stumbled upon that drawing again by chance. The feelings from the dream came flooding back. I am much older now - more than 30 years have passed. I feel as though I am getting closer to understanding the message of the dream.

This led me to reflect: on one hand, I wanted to bring closure to the dream’s experience and sensation for myself; on the other, I hoped to make it emotionally tangible for others - a calm perspective on what lies ahead for us all. The calmness of a gentle passing, something we can only hope to experience one day.

Prayer of the Sea is an audiovisual elegy offering a calm perspective on the universal experience of passing.