Project Detail

Max Richter's Sleep

Synopsis

Imagine you’re dreaming, and in your dream you pick a flower in heaven, and then you wake up with the flower in your hand. This is the kind of experience that composer Max Richter hopes to make palpable among the audience for 'Sleep', an eight-hour-long piece of music that explores of the liminal space between wakefulness and sleep, between consciousness and subconsciousness.
Taking as its chronological guide an ambitious outdoor performance of the composition in central Los Angeles, this salubrious film immerses us in the making of the piece, and in the life of its composer. His wife, artist Yulia Mahr, is his mainstay in both his private and professional life. From her words, it’s clear that grand, intense art such as this cannot come into being without some sacrifice.
The film makes palpable the sense of being present at the performance, partly through many visitors’ exquisitely well-formulated descriptions of their experiences. Shots of the audience lying on camping beds - some alone, others entwined with a loved one - low organically into shots of the musicians, interviews and nocturnal city. And all this is accompanied by the enchanting music itself.
Official Selection IDFA 2019 - IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary - World premiere
Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2020 - Special Events Programme

Details

Year
2019
Type of film
Features
Running time
99 min
Director
Natalie Johns
Producer
Julie Jakobek, Yulia Mahr, Stefan Demetriou, Oualid Mouaness
Editor
Michael Carter, Matt Cronin, Dom Whitworth
Director of Photography
Peter Cadman, Elisha Christian, Matthias Maercks, James Tonkin
Music
Max Richter

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

UK, US co-production

JA Films (UK), Globe Productions (US)

JA Films

Julie Jakobek
201 Borough High Street
London
SE1 1JA

Sales Company

Eagle Rock Entertainment

22 Armoury Way
London
SW18 1EZ

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Spacewoman Spacewoman

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle.<br /> Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all.<br /> At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? <br /> This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. <br /> Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere<br /> Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

The Disco, a Portrait of Simon Eilbeck The Disco, a Portrait of Simon Eilbeck

Director: Alex Hetherington

Year: 2025

A 16mm sound and image experimental portrait of d/Deaf DJ Simon Eilbeck and the Queer, Trans, alternative and non-binary communities who gather at his monthly disco Hot Mess.

What About Gary? What About Gary?

Director: Tristan M Copeland

Year: 2025

WHAT ABOUT GARY is a raw and emotive documentary that delves into the tragic consequences of misinformation, exploring how conspiracy theories led to the death of Gary Matthews from Covid-19. The film intimately portrays the profound grief of Gary's family and friends as they grapple with this senseless loss.<br /> Director Tristan Copeland, Gary's cousin, questions the purveyors of these falsehoods, driven by a need to understand why they ensnared Gary. Through vérité footage, archival materials, and Gary's own paintings, the film explores Gary’s descent into a distorted reality, seeking the root causes of his susceptibility to misinformation.<br /> Shot during the pandemic in Shrewsbury, England, WHAT ABOUT GARY captures the isolation that made many, including Gary, vulnerable to manipulation. With kinetic editing, evocative camera work, and a poignant score, the film examines how society failed to protect its citizens from misinformation.<br /> A potentially controversial yet vital work that questions how conspiracy theorists wield such influence and whether others can be saved from similar fates. A cautionary tale for a world grappling with truth in the digital age, and a tribute to a life tragically cut short, driven by a need to understand why.