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Order the DVD of The Sea That Thinks with a load of extra’s

Synopsis

Once upon a time there was a sea. Sea lived in a happy and natural state of wetness and waves. One morning, out of the blue, sea thought she was a tree. This idea lasted for ever. Sea was no longer happy.

It is holiday time. As every year, I swim in this sea. When I dive in, sea asks me:- “Friend, you’ve known me a long time. I’m a big tree, but something is wrong. What should I do to be as happy as when you first swam in me?” What should sea do to become water again? “Nothing, of course,” I answered. “Just let go of the illusion that you are a tree.”

A film like no other—playful, profound, and perpetually surprising.

The Sea That Thinks is a mind-bending film about illusion, perception, and our urgent and big  question: how do we become happy? With a unique narrative structure the film takes the viewer on an intellectual and emotional journey. What if the thing standing between us and happiness… is only a thought or the very idea of what we are?

The film follows a screenwriter when he is stuck in writing the script of The Sea that Thinks. He searches a way to continue. Eventually, he writes himself into the script, being the same screenwriter who is stuck in the script, blurring the line between fiction and reality. He types what he does and does what he types. The story loops back on itself, turning into a film within a film within a film.

The screenwriter seeks happiness by trying to let go of the thoughts and beliefs that define his identity—like the sea in the title that wrongly believes it’s a tree and loses its happiness because of that illusion.

But this film isn’t really about the screenwriter—it’s about you, the viewer. It continually shifts viewpoints and narrative expectations to show how our perception of reality is shaped -and often distorted – by our own viewpoints. Like a dream that feels real until we wake up, the film draws you into one illusion after another, provoking your beliefs at every turn.

The viewer is repeatedly misled, wrong-footed, and challenged to question what is seen, believed, and assumed. Sometimes even leading to the feeling of the rug being pulled out from under his/her feet.

In this fun-filled game of perception, filled with optical illusions, mind buggling sets and shots, visual trickery and continually changing viewpoints, the viewers are gradually led to a surprising realization: they are not just observing the film—they are observing themselves: how do we perceive? What do we assume to be true? What do we think we see? And ultimately: what do we think we are? In the end, the viewer bears a striking resemblance to the Sea that believes it is a Tree.

With elements of metafiction, philosophical inquiry and subtle humor, it is a film that resists classification. Is it a documentary? A work of fiction? The answer is continuously shifting – and that’s the point.

So don’t just read about the film. Like tasting salt, this can’t be explained—only tasted. Watch it. Experience it.
Let it mess playfully with your head!

Gert de Graaff

Taglines

• Don’t think of an elephant now
• I don’t exist.
• Remember: forget everything!
• Somnething inside your head is looking at your thoughts
• Do you think you now what you are? Forget it!
• What do you think you see? What do you think you are?

Logline

Incredible (optical) illusions in a story in a story in a story helps the surprised viewer finally to find out that he has been watching himself all along.

Website

more information: www.theseathatthinks.nl

Here you find an extensive interview I did recently with Indian Television

Shown at festivals

• IDFA Amsterdam
• Rotterdam International Film festival,
• Berlinale (Berlijn), official selection for Panorama section
• It’s all true – São Paolo – Brasil
• Minneapolis/St. Paul’s Int. Film festival -Unites States of America
• Philadelphia Int. Film festival – Unites States of America
• Karlovy Vary Int. Film festival – Czech Republic
• Art Fiction festival -Teplice & Bratislava – Slovakia
• Dahlonega (D.I.F.F. Award) – Unites States of America
• International Film festival of Kerala – India
• ‘Message to Man’ St. Petersburg – Russia
• International Film festival Moscow – Russia
• International Film festival Stuttgart – Germany
• European Media Art festival Osnabrueck – Germany
• International Documentary Film festival Pärnu – Sweden
• Rhode Island International Film festival (Grand Prix) – Unites States of America
• Wine country – Glenn Ellen International Film festival – Unites States of America
• Zakynthos Int. Film festival – Greece
• Umea Int. Documentary Film festival – Estonia
• Dutch Film festival – Utrecht, the Netherlands
• Haifa Int. festival festival – Israel
• Cairo Int. festival festival – Egypt
• Warschau Int. Film festival – Poland
• Gent Int. Film festival – Belgium
• Mostra di Valencia – Spain
• Kalamata Int. Film festival – Greece
• Vermont Int. Film festival – Unites States of America
• Odissea nas imagens, Porto – Portugal
• Pusan – South-Korea
• Festival dei Populi, Firenze – Italy
• Mannheim – Germany
• Jihlava – Czech Republic
• Warschau (Nederlands film festival) – Poland
• Int. Film Festival Cleveland – Unites States of America
• Cinequest – Unites States of America
• filmseminair – Israel
• Güterloh, Bambikino – Denmark
• Torun Young European Cinema festival – Poland
• Wiesbaden Film Institut – Germany
• European Institute of Cinema Karlsruhe – Germany
• Serpa – Portugal
• Arizona School of fine Arts – Unites States of America
• Wild Cinema Windhoek International Film Festival – Namibia
• Damascus – Syria

Prices

main price JORIS IVENS AWARD – IDFA – amsterdam
Golden Key Award for Best Camera – Art Film Festival, Teplice, Slovakia
Special F.I.C.C. Jury Award – Art Film Festival, Teplice, Slovakia
Experimental Feature DIFF Award – Dahlonega International Film Festival
Grand Prix Best Experimental Feature – Rhode Island International Film Festival
Best First Feature Film Award – Wine Country International Film Festival
Nomination of the European Film Academy for ‘Fassbinder Price’

DVD

as mentioned above, the DVD comes with a load of extra’s.

For more information about film and DVD, please visit: www.theseathatthinks.nl
Order the DVD (inside Europian Union) by filling in the orderform below.
Price €15,- (+ €9,- for shippingcosts unfortunately)