On set & behind the scenes
About the story
In a dark and echoing bookshop people and objects freely appear and disappear between the shelves. Will, a bewildered elderly man who manages the infinite rows of books, is searching for information about himself, information that he once knew but has now misplaced and forgotten. When he happens across a mysterious envelope and a young man looking for a copy of Flann O’Brien’s ‘The Third Policeman’, Will knows this is important but cannot remember why. Yet as quickly as he appears the young man vanishes again, leaving Will alone to make notes on their peculiar interaction.
Yet this moment has set forth a chain reaction of events in Will’s mind that begin to unfold in front of him as fast as he is able to make sense of them. Echoing voices strike up conversations around him, mysterious photos are left lying on his desk and strange characters stalk the infinite aisles. these events, whilst bizarre, mean something to Will. But what exactly? As he begins to make more and more sense of the bizarre environment around him, he makes a discovery that answers so many of his questions yet threatens to slip from his mind as quickly as it arrives…
Behind the production
Southwest based arts organisation Medium Rare present ‘Third Quarter’, a short narrative film that takes the viewer inside the mind of an individual living with dementia.
This cinematic experience interprets contemporary research in to dementia and depicts a character frantically hunting through their own mind in order to discover their sense of self and identity. Drawing heavily on the immersive and evocative qualities of film, the production presents an uncanny and vivid interior mental environment that highlights the complex psychological struggle and the emotional awareness that is often retained.
