The Sleep Goddess
- Sleep
- Space
- Youth Poverty
Synopsis
This film is inspired by Tshn̂g-bú, the Goddess of Sleep in Taiwanese folk legend. Tshn̂g-bú comforts babies and lets them sleep, and She protects children, so that they grow up safely. The subjective shot of the camera represents the gaze of goddess.
In between waking and sleeping, a third dimension of consciousness arises where the grown-ups reveal their deepest desires, both known and unbeknownst to themselves. Faced with the hardships of life, they hold firm to stay the course. Disquiet haunts their pursuits of ideals. Wading through days of splendor, they seek answers always unattainable.
Invited into the limbo between slipping into slumber and verging on awakening, the audience follows the camera, traveling through a series of spaces from crowded flats to luxury apartments. Sleep is classed but also transcends class. Layer after layer, the film enters the depths of consciousness, there existing a realm of reality that is more real than the real.
Delivered in a poetic style, the film is founded on reality while presented with experimental visual and aural elements. Traversing the divide between fiction and non-fiction, the film offers the viewers a different mode of documentary experience.
Director Statement
I have always been deeply intrigued by two things: the place where people sleep and the rituals before bedtime. It may reveal social hierarchies and portray a facet of an individual unseen in the public domain.
When it comes to the style of the film, I came across the story of Hypnos, the god of sleep in Greek Mythology. The sound of his wings flapping lulls people into a drowsy state. In Taiwan, where I grew up, there is also a sleep goddess who takes care of people’s sleep. Therefore, I daringly adopted a perspective rooted in folk legend as the point of view.
The characters in the film, on the cusp between wakefulness and sleep, find their minds in magical realms, murmuring to themselves. Some explore hopes for their future lives, others seek to unravel perplexing mysteries, and a few grapple with fears unspoken during the day.
Each person falls asleep alone, yet my hope is that after watching my film, the audience may find a bit of solace and companionship.
Team
- Director
- Production