I DREAMED AN ENDLESS DREAM

I DREAMED AN ENDLESS DREAM is a short film with three simultaneous images and could also be shown as a 3-screen video installation. The film poetically weaves together stories of Hawaii's ancient past to the present. Inspired by the old Hawaiian myth about the demigod Maui, who is searching for immortality, the story tells about waiting and searching, dreaming and hoping and about finding new ways of being. In the scenery of Kauai, Maui is looking for eternal life, which he wants to steal from the Lady of the Night, the Goddess of darkness and death. The Lady of the Night is wandering aimlessly through the darkness, hoping to be relieved from her dim existence, but never allowing herself to see the daylight. Maui is only meeting her in his dreams, until one day he knows that he will never gain eternal life by conquering and killing her. When her realizes this, he suddenly finds her.

While I spent a few months in Hawaii, I noticed that the Hawaiian world of myths and gods are still present in the modern life. Most of the myths have there origin in Polynesia and even though they are very old, they still have a place in the contemporary Hawaiian culture. This connection between the old and the new, the mythical and the ordinary fascinated and inspired me to this work. I read different versions of the myth about Maui's search for immortality and then decided to create my own version. Instead of letting Maui die in the end, I made him give up his believe that he needs to conquer and kill in order to gain something. And the Lady of the Night steps out into the daylight and a new story can begin.

The video is shot with a Canon T3i/EOS 600D.