Waking Life ²⁰⁰¹

Waking Life is introduced by young thinker Max van den Berg. In his introduction, he explores the theme of The Month of Philosophy, Beauty of the Fringes, and the way in which this becomes visible and tangible in the film. What does it mean to be awake? In Waking Life, an unnamed protagonist moves through a surreal landscape of dreams and philosophical conversations. From existential questions to free will and consciousness—the film immerses the viewer in a stream of ideas and thought experiments.

Director Richard Linklater, who once again collaborated with Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke from the Before Sunrise trilogy, uses a unique otoscopic animation technique, which makes the images appear to be in constant motion and blurs the line between dream and reality. Waking Life is a hypnotic film experience that invites us to reflect on the nature of our existence. This film is being shown as part of The Month of Philosophy around the theme The Beauty of Frayed Edges.