CELLS a documentary by Wil Mathijs

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S Y N O P S I S

CELLS is a sticky and quirky documentary about a simple man with a far from simple plan.

Dutch-Belgo bio-artist Martin Uit den Bogaard (67y.) searches for a human body part to use in his work and if that's not enough yet; he wrestles to obtain the rights to his own body to use it in his ultimate and final piece, after his death. It is his personal struggle, since our body becomes state property when we die.

Uit den Bogaard illustrates through his work, not that there is life after death - but rather that there is life in death.

Safely encapsulated within glass shrines, decomposed tissue taken from animals, plants and even humans generate an energy which the artist converts into images and sounds using electrodes, voltmeters and computer equipment.  The physiological and mineral processes suggest the never-ending whilst nonetheless dependent on time, motion, temperature, humidity and light. By isolating the pieces from air and bacteria Uit den Bogaard slows down the disintegration process and attempts to postpone the inevitable decay.

To Martin, everything is material. All material is continuously moving. But what about non-material things like our soul and our counsciousness? Is it because we don't succeed in proving their physical existence, that they simply don't exist at all?

Devoid of sacral, ritual nor religious intentions the artist is nonetheless critical.  The film challenges viewers' feelings, their moral compass and their ethical beliefs. Uit den Bogaard's works alienate through straddling make-believe and reality, art and science, taxidermy and bio-energy-manufacturer, at once the biologist and the electrician.

The film confronts us with our mortality.  Death is a part of life. Dying is nothing but a transformation.  The long coercive power of the images of Martin's estranged world are shot in a super macro mode and force viewers to see the beauty of decay and waste. Tainted prejudices are upturned, the universal taboo is broken.

According to Uit den Bogaard, death - as we know it - is an invention of our own.  After the permanent disappearance of our consciousness our body lives on as a composition of organisms benefiting other organisms such as insects, fungi and bacteria.  Nature feeds itself. Vita mutatur non tollitur (Life is changed, not taken away).

CELLS captures the beauty of these abstract forms, textures and colours and leads us into the bizarre universe of the man and artist. As a result the films confronts the viewer with the ethical quests, the challenges to obtain ceded human tissue (which whilst legal in science, is not in art) and the destiny of the artist's own body predestined to be a future, but final work. This obviously is at conflict with the governing standards and laws (the right to decide over one's own body).

Will he get a new human part to use in his work? Will he show up in his work after his death?

Fascinating and repulsive at the same time.

D I R E C T O R 's   N O T E

When we are brought up, we learned how we should deal with death or not. Anyway quickly, because nobody likes to be confronted with death. The topic was and is always stopped pretty fast. They said that we should be scared when we would die. Some people have even tried to indoctrinate us. We would go to heaven or hell! Others talk about reincarnation. Over the world, people deal different with death. That's culturally inclined. Built in our mind. But in our western world, death is often and still a big taboo.

Every day we are confronted with death. From the kitchen trash, to the survival reflexes when we cross a busy street, to the friends and family we lose every year. A lot of people cope with thanatos phobia. According to Martin, art is about taking away fears.

CELLS is not so much about art, but ti's a personal story about a deep struggle in a somehow Kafkaian system like our own, where certain ethical and moral issues are still very sensitive in this 21st century.

Everybody has to cope with dying someday and decay even daily. That's why this subject and theme are universal and socially very relevant, I think.

It's inevitable that every life leads to death. Nevertheless, I don't think it's gruesome. Death is a natural part of life and it's about transformation. This is unacceptable to many and that's why CELLS is an interesting film. This documentary faces us with our own life, death and perishableness, after the shock or rather the astonishment.

Wil Mathijs, June 2011

About The Production

I wrote the script, I direct, produce and shoot the film. Cells is produced by Elementrik Films. Henk Rabau is the soundengineer on set. A bunch of lovely helpful assistants join us. PixMix (www.pixmix.be) postproduces the film. Maarten is editing. Patrick is the colorist.
Ben Kass is making the music. Lagestee Films in Amsterdam is coproducing the film. Seppe is our social media manager.

Some broadcasters are already interested and the film gained pretty much acclaim. We go worldwide and that's why we invite you to get involved!

We plan to shoot next winter and deliver the film in may 2012 to premire on the big international doc festival in Amsterdam.

visit the CELLS webpage on facebook !

http://www.facebook.com/pages/CELLS-the-movie/2...

We already found a distributor!

Campaign

We launch a world wide campaign and warm up directly minimum 30.000 people via our mailings. Indiegogo boosts it up. Our CELLS facebook page will also be launched the same week and our friends, Martin Uit den Bogaard and his wife Phil Bloom will do the same. This is gonna be a massive attack for a film. We're also doing a lot of press & promo via papers, magazines, radio, tv.

Facebook us!

Twitter us!

Shout it through the nights!

Share us!

What do we do with the money?

The 10.000 USD we need will be spend for 'out of pocket costs'. These are gas, postproduction facilities, broadcastcopies, subtitling, DVD's, festival shipments etc. All our salaries are participated in the film, which means that we only will get paid once the films is succesful and makes money.

Other help

If it's hard for you to pledge, no problem. Maybe you could help us with other stuff. Feel free to contact us!

Contact

For any questions, remarks, ideas, feel free:

ask@cells-themovie.com

How This Stuff Works

This independent documentary does not follow a commercial, capitalistic model, but a non profit model. TV channels are intrested to air the film already, but we still need money to pay the out of pocket costs such as gas, postproduction studios, broadcastcopies, DVDs, festivals shipments and so on. Our own fees (the shooting & postproduction crew) are all participated in the project, which means that we will only get paid once the film is succesful and makes money. We do that because we believe in the film.

Everybody is confronted with death. Everybody dies someday, if we like it or not, its a part of our life. This film helps us to cope with that. Thats why its universal and social relevant to everyone.

CELLS IS A NO RISK FILM

Many films are high risks. Will they get made? Will they be good?
CELLS is a no risk film and already received much acclaim in Europe.
Your help is needed to make it reach wider, all over the globe.
Read your name on the screen!

HOW CROWDFUNDING WORKS

Its a new and very effective way to reach you and get you involved into a project you like. When we have reached our goal, well get in touch with you for your address to send your rewards.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH YOUR INFO?

We administer all infodetails of the people involved in the project, depending on the pledges they made. This information is not shared to third parties and is only for our own operation. No spam will be send. If you would have a problem anyway or a question, please contact us and we solve it immediately.

HOW TO PLEDGE?

Choose you're package and just click the button Contribute Now  in the upper right-hand corner. You will be asked to input your pledge amount and select a reward. From there, you will go through a secured https Credit Card payment checkout process. You must finish the process for your pledge to be recorded. You also will get a proof of your payment. If you like to have an invoice, just contact us.

CAN I INCREASE MY PLEDGE?

Sure you can. Just make a new pledge and we will up your contribution accordingly.

CAN YOU DONATE IN ANOTHERS NAME?

Of course! Thats cool too. Once funding is finished, we will get in touch with you to complete all info we need. Just let us know what name you would like to use.

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YOU WANT MORE?

Higher participations are available. Just contact us to know more.
ask@cells-themovie.com