UK, 2022 · English · colour · 26 min · comedy / experimental
I wanted a description of the film, not you!
When an audio describer enlists a blind consultant, he has no idea of the journey she’s about to lead him on.
Watch Pessoa
Pessoa has integrated audio description.
About the film
Pessoa is a film within a film, combining narrative fiction and experiment to explore some of the possibilities of creative audio description. Its title refers to the Portuguese modernist poet Fernando Pessoa and his use of multiple poetic identities. The film plays with shifting roles and perspectives as an audio describer and blind consultant negotiate what — and who — is being described.
The film developed out of an Arts Council England-funded Develop Your Creative Practice project exploring innovative approaches to audio description in narrative and non-narrative moving-image work.
Awards and Screenings
Demystification Award — Uhvati Film / Seize the Film, Novi Sad, Serbia; EFN Short Film Festival — London
Cast and Credits
Written and directed by Michael Achtman
Edited by Michael Achtman and Zeynep Dağli
Camera Zeynep Dağli and Çağlar Kimyoncu
Violet — Margo Cargill
Robert — Michael Skellern
Rose — Wanda Fitzgerald
Celeste — Elyssa Livergant
Creative Audio Description
Audio description is part of Pessoa’s form rather than an access track added to a completed film. The processes of describing, interpreting and negotiating visual information become part of the narrative itself.
DYCP Part 2 — creative audio-description research
Developed with support from Arts Council England and the National Lottery.
