“Endlessness” is a short film that explores the weight of time and memory.
Clara (80) lives an empty and lonely life. Her day to day is gray, slow and repetitive. However, within this routine, there’s a hidden ritual that helps to brighten her life just for a moment. Director Joan Bosch achieves a deep sense of time and aging in Endlessness. Through a delicate tenderness, the simple narrative and settings let us breathe in the simplicity of the story, yet it effectively garnishes the grandiosity of life and memories. We spoke with Joan who told us a little more about his intentions with the film:
Can you tell us what inspired you to bring this story to life?
The sense of time as a physical weight that one can almost feel on their body -and how to portray it on the screen- is something that has been haunting me since I approached filmmaking for the first time.
When visiting my grandmother back in my hometown, I could feel this enormous weight on her shoulders: a slow paced routine based on the same TV shows, the same people on the street, and the same exact food on the fridge. But when talking to her, and unexpectedly discovering her remembering an old story about her past, I could easily see the joy on her eyes, and her spontaneous smile.
The concept of memories and how we relate to our past to stablish a healthy, healing relationship with it -instead of a toxic tie- is something that has always interested me. So on the junction of these two ideas and the desire to write a short film with an elderly woman as a main character -who could show us the real strength of holding the weight of time on her shoulders-, I found the inspiration to start developing an idea for this short film.
During the process, I discovered Adrian Tomine’s short story Lunch Break, a fascinating little piece of life that perfectly captured not only the themes I wanted to develop but also the sense of time as a physical weight that one can feel on their body when navigating through the pages and the strips of the graphic novel.
Trying to bring this feeling to the screen was the last push I needed to finally tackle Endlessness as a short film, exploring the weight of time and memory through the point of view of an elderly woman.
How did you find a balance about how much story you wanted to tell, and what you wanted the audience to develop on their own?
With Endlesness, I wanted to experiment on my filmmaking approach, embracing minimalism and trying to escape from any trick that could guide or define the viewer’s experience.
The camera is always set to contextualize the characters on a specific place, the cuts between one shot and the other are simple and almost raw, and there’s no extradiagetical sound. During the shooting, the work with the actors -regarding blocking and acting-, was always as natural as possible too.
Endlessness is a short film that wants to involve the viewer with it as much as possible. It’s a simple story that presents us an open space to feel the weight of time, and to think about the importance of our relationship with memories.
What do you hope people will take away from Endlessness?
I hope that Endlessness’s main themes resonate with the viewers and get to exhibit the strength of those who don’t usually star in leading roles on the screen.
What are your favorite short films?
Un Creux Dans Mon Coeur, by Mees Peijnenburg
Caroline, by Celine Held & Logan George
Ruina, by Frank Lucas
