“Cycles” By Stefan Pecher
Some days we find ourselves on an obscure road of eternal darkness. You don‘t know who you are and where you want to go. Your own reality becomes distorted and the perception of ordinary things suddenly becomes abstract. You carry a heavy ballast with you, a shadow that you cannot encounter.
The very first idea of the short film came up in the middle of winter during the second Corona lock-down. I always thought that I'm in a very good mental condition, but at that time I noticed how I also suddenly fall into a kind of dark place with my own psyche. I didn't really realize it at first, but then I started to self-reflect my thoughts and tried to talk about it with my close circle of friends and family. Furthermore, I was amazed because especially in my close environment the topic of depression and anxiety (and in general mental health) became more and more present. So, I asked myself the question, why is mental health talked about so little in our modern society?
With that question in mind, I came up with the idea to work on an abstract short film about depression and anxiety to create further awareness of the disease. Often, I have the feeling that even among young people there is little or no talk about mental health. Rarely there are people who talk about this topic completely openly or even admit to their problems. It became clear to me quite quickly that it is a very sensitive topic in our society and that I must deal with this topic with a lot of work and research.
After finite conversations with affected people, newspaper articles and including my own experience, I realized that I would like to treat the subject on a symbolic and metaphorical level. Because each of us perceives depression differently, so I found an experimental and abstract approach very interesting. Everyone who looks closely at the film can find small symbolism and much inspiration from art history.
The decision to shoot on 16mm color film came very early in consultation with our cinematographer Moritz Uthe:
“The film was especially close to my heart because a lot of people struggled with quite similar emotions throughout their lives. Working on a project that visually portrays exactly the feelings that so many of us have already experienced especially throughout the pandemic was really fulfilling. We tried our best to visually support the whole story by choosing a dark setting and a de saturated color palette. Stefan and I felt that underexposed 16mm film was the best and only true choice to transport the emotions appropriately.“
The post-production was very time-consuming. But together with unbelievably talented musicians, sound designers, voice-over artists, graphic designers and many more, after 3 months of intensive work, the final short film was created. It was unbelievable to see how motivated our whole team was. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was involved in this project!
We hope to reach a broad audience which can see a part of themselves inside our film and just maybe open a conversation about anxiety and depression in our communities.
Credits
a HOVN films production
Director: Stefan Pecher
Executive Producer: Manuel Nguyen
Production: Alexander Mandl
DoP: Moritz Uthe
Creative Director: Oscar Pecher
Talent: Raquel Fuina
1st AC: Stefan Maitz
2nd AC: Andy Watzek
Steadicam: Benedikt Heinzl
Gaffer: Alex Sprenger
Best Boy: Michael Preston
Electrician: Judith Dornetshuber
Electrician: Natalia Brezwan
Production Design: Sarah Heidenreich
Production Design: Felix Katletz
H&M: Betty Franz
Costume: Hannah Müller
Costume Rental: Ali Rabbani
Music: Maximilian Weber
Sound Design: Felix Reichenauer
Editor: Stefan Pecher
Colorist: Peter Oppersdorff
VFX: Florian Senekowitsch
VFX: Boril Stefanov
Title Design: Ander Pecher
Copywriter: Lennart Kos
Behind the Scenes: Marius Prell
Production Assistant: Jan Englmair
Production Assistant: Adrian Kaindl
Dancer: Kornelia Nowak
Dancer: Judith Grübl
Dancer: Christina Gabler
Lab/Scan: Focus Film Stockholm
Special Thanks:
FH – St. Pölten, Markus Wintersberger, Marcus Josef Weiss, Arri Rental, Martina Pecher
Stadtgemeinde Maissau, Lukas Bawart, Karl Frühwirth, Lilja Häfele, Lukas Kronsteiner,
Ernst Dangl GmbH, Lunzer Landtechnik, Nina Boriri
Supported by Wien Basiskultur
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