Personal Effects is Gregg Biermann’s animated personal essay film on death, time, the mind and other perplexing philosophical topics. The visuals are constructed out of numerous sequences that have been painstakingly hand traced from movies, television and other media. These images are paired with Biermann’s monologues on various topics creating an open ended arena for free association.
“On October 16th of 2020 while playing tennis, my heart suddenly stopped. It remained stopped for several minutes. I was lucky on two counts. The first was that a nurse happened to be standing 20 feet away from me and
second that I was close to a police station. The nurse performed C.P.R. and the police rushed to the scene and employed defibrillator paddles. These people saved my life. I woke up three days later in the hospital and was told that I had survived something called sudden cardiac death (S.C.D.)…Death challenges who we think we are and how we tend to think about ourselves. After it was revealed to me that someone had recorded my collapse and the subsequent attempts to revive me and I was able to obtain that footage, I thought that I should make a film about this experience and its emotional and intellectual aftermath. Personal Effects is that film.”
second that I was close to a police station. The nurse performed C.P.R. and the police rushed to the scene and employed defibrillator paddles. These people saved my life. I woke up three days later in the hospital and was told that I had survived something called sudden cardiac death (S.C.D.)…Death challenges who we think we are and how we tend to think about ourselves. After it was revealed to me that someone had recorded my collapse and the subsequent attempts to revive me and I was able to obtain that footage, I thought that I should make a film about this experience and its emotional and intellectual aftermath. Personal Effects is that film.”
– Gregg Biermann
Join us this Thursday at 6:00pm in Pitkin’s film theater in A-104 for a screening of Personal Effects with a discussion to follow with Gregg led by Dr. Andy Krikun.
Popcorn will definitely be served.