Audiences are waking up to the talents of New York City filmmaker Alan Berliner, who premiered his latest documentary “Wide Awake” at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The Emmy Award winner examines his own struggle from across the globe. life with insomnia, a problem that can be caused by any of the roughly 80 different sleep disorders that affect millions of people.
In this first-person account, which Berliner directed, wrote, and narrated, he sees his insomnia as both a blessing and a curse. As he works 24-hour shifts feverishly cataloging film reels and memorabilia, and editing (and re-editing) his latest projects, he realizes that most of the country is quietly and quietly enjoying a good night’s sleep.
“Since I’m a person who suffers from insomnia and I’m an extreme night owl, I had good and bad days making the movie, all of which made it painful and comical when I was too tired to work on the movie,” he says.
In addition to fatigue, classic symptoms of severe sleep deprivation include increased sensitivity to pain and noise, irritability, confusion, an upset stomach, and hallucinations, all of which may seem comical to others, though quite painful to the insomniac.
Using clips from old movies and retro songs, “Wide Awake” tells the dark and funny story of how Berliner can’t seem to edit his internal cinema screen, which broadcasts newscasts, reports and documentaries 24 hours a day. He wants to go black, but can’t seem to turn off the projector in his mind.
Berliner’s fascination with the connection between information overload, movies, and sleep began more than 25 years ago with his experimental film “City Edition” (1980). In this black and white short, a mere nap from a movie, so to speak, uses a newspaper press to start the movie, which consists entirely of a dizzying montage of found images including old news from around the world. . Each movie clip is connected visually, aurally, or thematically until a loose pattern emerges. At the end of the movie, a man wakes up and turns off his alarm clock, indicating that the flood of images was just a dream, and the images only momentarily meaningful.
“The purpose of displaying the images as a dream is to make sense of the nonsense. The use of the dream sequence in ‘City Edition’ is a way of linking the overwhelming variety of information … that is inextricably woven into the experience of modern urban existence, “says Berliner.
He delights in exploring the “factory where random juxtapositions and unlikely connections can be made … every night.” That is, when you have the luxury of falling asleep.
Like many other artists, Berliner claims to do his best work after midnight. Also like other artists, he prefers to explore subjects close to home. His previous films are more like personal essays than actual documentaries, as they ask more questions than they answer. “The Sweetest Sound” studies the universal relationship between a person’s name and their identity. “Nobody’s Business” is a heinous look from his late father. “Intimate Stranger” recounts the life of his world-traveling grandfather; and “The Family Album” combines found images from old home movies to make a statement about the role of family in our lives.
“These films are designed to transcend the specificity of the details of my own particular family,” he says. “In the spirit of the way memories are supposed to work, my story becomes a window to viewers that opens up a series of questions … and offers new ways of seeing themselves. I try to tap into common levels. of experience that people have “.
Whether the common experience is maintaining family relationships, realizing his identity, or simply trying to get some sleep, Berliner takes his position as a personal essayist seriously.
“I like to think that I have a contract with the audience,” he says. “They trust me enough to know that I never pretend to be self-indulgent or sentimental. My films are open and honest and made in the spirit of opening a topic, using humor or irony where appropriate, with natural pathos.”
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