The Lost Mariner

A case from neurologist Oliver Sacks’ studies: amnesia patient Jimmie G. mistakes his wife for a hat. Tess Martin turned it into an award-winning animated and cut short film—ambiguous in the literal sense.

Archive notice: This article was originally published on December 18, 2015. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.

Tess Martin’s film tackles a sensitive subject: clinical amnesia and its effects on the patient and those around him. The short film was shown at more than 30 festivals and won many awards there

In the making-of, the artist shows how the film was made: with a great many analog photos, cut to size over many hours of painstaking work. The cutting room thus acquires a new, old definition.

A truly enormous amount of work. And to all the remaining hipsters out there: so analog actually is better, yes?!