Sleep Well, My Love

Is this a bedtime story? Hardly!

“Mother” is a symbol for “care”. But what does caring mean, what does being a “good” mother mean? Perhaps there are universal criteria that are free of socio-cultural conditioning. In fact, however, motherhood is shaped by social conventions that – viewed over time – have not always been the same.

Inspired by an old family album and a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, a story develops here that makes me think and turns my tidy image of motherhood upside down...

  • Erika Kassnel-Henneberg
    Director
  • Erika Kassnel-Henneberg
    Producer
  • Rasmus Kassnel-Henneberg
    Voice
  • Coyote Hearing
    Sound
    Cicada Killer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Schlaf gut, Liebes
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Video Art
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 3 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 3, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    German
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Erika Kassnel-Henneberg

Erika Kassnel-Henneberg is a concept and video artist with German-Romanian roots. In her works, she explores the process of remembering and questions identity as an artificial construct between reality and fiction: Who am I if Artificial Intelligence knows me better than I know myself on the basis of collected data? Is this image truer than my self-image?

Erika Kassnel-Henneberg studied Restoration at the Bern University of the Arts / CH and Interactive Media at the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences / DE. She has been working as an artist since 2010 and lives in Anhausen near Augsburg. Her works are shown nationally and internationally in exhibitions and festivals, such as FILE – Electronic Language International Festival in Sao Paulo / BRA or IVAHM – International Video Art House Madrid / ES.

2022 she received the Augsburg District Art Prize for her body of work.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

We are the narrative of our own memory and the memory of others about us. This is how our identity is formed in a chronological context.

But today we know that memory is neither true, nor objective, nor complete. We lay traces, collect documents and photographs, and archive them. I see in this an existential doubt: who am I really if I cannot trust memory? If I leave no traces, did I ever exist?

In the digital age, cloud archives are our memory. Artificial intelligences collect vast amounts of data and traces that we leave behind in the infinite expanse of the internet. They find everything and forget nothing. They seem to know us better than we know ourselves. Can they tell us who we are?