Belgium & Germany/ 2021/ 97mins/ English, French & Dutch/ Chinese & English subtitles/ Hong Kong Premiere

A creative documentary depicting Nicht Schlafen, the production by Alain Platel’s les ballets C de la B, with harsh physicality among the performers and jaw-droppingly beautiful aesthetics of the stage as human forms enact their choreography of violence, accompanied by the music of Mahler.  Apart from simply unfolding the making of the production, the filmmakers embarked on an odyssey to explore conflicts, whether on a personal level or a collective scale, with dancers interviews on their agonising personal experiences, insightful aspects from historian Philipp Blom, sculptor Berlinde De Bruyckere, conductor Teodor Currentzis and philosopher Tinneke Beeckman on the sociological, historical, economic and philosophical conditions that drive our species inexorably towards violence. With a variety of imagery and visual metaphors, the film analyses social change and the power of humanity, which always seems to balance between creating something spectacularly beautiful and something horribly cruel.  By trying to understand the cruelty around us, and within ourselves, we are able to better cope with the world today.

Not suitable for young persons and children