Kinaesthesia
Gerald Fox celebrates the centenary of the “dream film” in cinema and its years of flowering during the silent film period in this kaleidoscopic, stylised documentary.
“dreams are the first cinema invented by mankind” ~ Luis Buñuel
"Its expert edit of clips conveys the shock of the new that audiences must have felt in the 1910s and 1920s."
tHE STORY
BAFTA and Grierson award-winning filmmaker Gerald Fox’s lyrical, inventive documentary KINAESTHESIA explores the world of dreams in Silent Cinema, putting the audience at the centre of the journey.
This unique film tells the story of the birth of cinema and its experimental early decades through the prism of dreams and the way in which pioneering silent film directors created thrilling dream sequences and entire dream films that mirrored the very way we dream ourselves.
We follow this relationship through the eyes of the legendary, late Film Studies professor at Harvard, Vlada Petrić. Here played by Serbian actor (Little Joe, The Zookeeper’s Wife, Jack Ryan) Petrić undertakes his own dreamlike odyssey through disparate landscapes, odd encounters, and spellbinding film clips.
Exploring scenes from French Impressionism (such as Abel Gance, Jean Renoir), German Expressionism (F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang), Soviet montage (Sergei Eisenstein, Oleksandr Dovzhenko), the Avant-garde (Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, Maya Deren) and popular silent comedy (Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton), Petrić illustrates his theory that these early innovators used all the available devices of cinema to produce sequences that activated the sensory-motor centres in the brain producing Kinaesthesia (the sensation of movement) – just as in dreaming itself.
Accompanied by a stunning, newly composed musical score, Fox’s accessible and often humorous film allows audiences to have the same mesmerising cinematic experience that audiences had all those years ago, consumed by the imaginative power of slow-motion, double exposures, expressionistic lighting, and dynamic montage.
Crew
director & PRODUCER
Gerald fox
Gerry Fox is an acclaimed documentary director whose films about leading contemporary artists have earned him prestigious awards including the BAFTA and the Prix Italia. His celebrated subjects include Gilbert and George, Gerhard Richter, Bill Viola, Marc Quinn, and Robert Frank. His work has been broadcast on The South Bank Show, Channel 4, and BBC's Imagine, while screening internationally at major festivals and museums from The Met to the Tate, MOMA to the Pompidou Centre, establishing him as a distinguished voice in arts filmmaking. Fox has long been fascinated by "dream cinema" since studying Film and Dreams with Professor Vlada Petric at Harvard University before becoming a filmmaker himself.
CO-Producer & editor
DASHA COWLEY
Dasha Cowley is a London-based filmmaker and producer working across documentary and fiction. After studying Chinese in Edinburgh and Taiwan, she started as a photographer, developing her own photographs in a darkroom where she became fascinated by silent cinema. She then met Gerald Fox and they began to work on Kinaesthesia together. She has since worked across fiction and commercial projects for a range of directors including music videos, short films, and commercial campaigns. Her filmmaking and darkroom photography practice remains rooted in documentary storytelling.
cinematographer
Douglas Hartington
Douglas is an accomplished cinematographer whose work spans documentary and drama. He has collaborated with renowned presenters like Melvyn Bragg and Mary Beard, bringing his keen eye for cinematic composition and masterful use of light to each project. His ability to move fluidly between actuality and fictionality keeps him inspired and excited about the creative possibilities of the medium. His calm and considered approach, coupled with technical expertise, ensures he delivers visually striking results.
Music composition
Alan Snelling
Alan Snelling is a versatile composer whose musical journey began with drums before transitioning to guitar and piano. Immersing himself in emerging electronic technologies, he composed with the Yamaha DX7, Roland 106, and the renowned Fairlight. Recording scores for legendary composers like Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and George Martin profoundly influenced his approach. Working alongside these musical geniuses taught him how blending orchestral and electronic elements could create compelling soundscapes, shaping his distinctive compositional voice.
CAST
Goran Kostić
Goran Kostić is a Serbian actor whose work spans international film, television, and theatre. Born in Sarajevo, he trained at the Academy of Performing Arts before building a career marked by intense, emotionally complex performances. His breakthrough came with Angelina Jolie's In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011), where his portrayal of Miloś showcased his ability to navigate morally intricate characters with nuance and depth. His film credits include The Raven (2012), Taken 2 (2012), Captive (2015), and Serbian productions such as The Parade (2011). Kostić is drawn to characters that exist in moral grey areas, exploring the human condition through layered, often conflicted personas, bringing authenticity and commanding presence to contemporary international cinema.
ANA cilas
Ana Cilas is an actress working across theatre, film and television, with credits including Wonder Woman, Dune: Part Two, Canary Black and Mob Land. Having been classically trained in ballet from a young age in Zagreb, where she is originally from, she is particularly drawn to the exploration of movement and physical storytelling. After graduating from the Urdang Academy in London, she further developed her craft through method-based acting training, and continues to approach her work as an evolving practice.
