Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem ‘Gravity’s Law’, we tap into themes of meditation and nature in a deliberate response to the overload of information in modern society.

This film is inspired by the poem Gravity’s Law by Rainer Maria Rilke which featured on a Radio 4 programme about Mindfulness Meditation. McDermott was drawn to The Barbican Centre and estate because of its otherworldly quality and achieves a sense of calm with his long freefalling shots against the brutalist architecture.

The contemporary movement of Mindfulness is becoming increasingly popularised and has entered into the mainstream with Apps such as Headspace. Both are born out of a need to reduce stress and a clear need in society to slow down life’s pace and be more in the moment. In our modern technological society large groups are becoming more and more stretched to make ends meet and are often forced to live and work at an inhuman pace;

‘push out beyond what we belong to.’

An emotionally inspiring film with incredible sense of space and time, and highlighting the theme about waking up to the important things in life. The stunning visual landscape and use of architecture blends into the soothing words of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem voiced by the powerful tone of Bill Fellows.

There is a demand to keep up to this fast pace and as a consolation we reward ourselves often by buying material objects, status symbols and promoting our success in life on social media…

These are all modern day examples of ‘empty freedoms’.

Have we lost a spiritual connection to what we truly belong to? Rilke suggests that we can learn from the natural world which helps us to appreciate life without endless egoism. Nature can teach us to let go of striving and trying to control life;

To fall, patiently to trust our heaviness

The film is a visual representation of the poem and powerfully illustrates it’s themes which are equally if not more relevant today as they were when the poem was written. It will give new life to the poem; retelling it in an exciting, modern context and raising the question of our connection to our planet and to nature.