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Acclaimed neuroscientist Professor Anil Seth features in a powerful new film about dementia which has premiered at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX festival.

Eight years in the making, Conscious captures the altered realities of three women living with dementia, alongside the story of University of Sussex Professor Anil Seth who has dedicated his career to studying consciousness. This debut feature by London-based artist and filmmaker Suki Chan interweaves personal testimonies with the story of how Anil’s quest to understand the nature of self took a surprisingly personal turn.

With rich soundscapes and experimental techniques Conscious avoids the typical approach of documentaries to create an immersive experience. It invites audiences to ask what remains of us when our internal landscape fragments?

Professor Seth is one of the world’s most highly cited neuroscientists, Director of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science and winner of the Royal Society’s Michael Faraday prize for science communicators.

With origins stretching back to the director’s artist residency at a care home village in Crewe, Conscious had its world premiere at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX film festival on Saturday 14 March. Details of the UK premiere will be released soon. Watch the trailer for a taste of this remarkable work.

Professor Anil Seth said: “Dementia research has come a long way, but the mysteries of the mind are so great we need to approach it from multiple directions. In the quest to understand the experience of brain fog, cognitive decline and memory deficiencies, the science of consciousness offers a fresh perspective to unravel one of humanity’s greatest conundrums. What makes you ‘you’? And what does existence feel like when our sense of self fades away?”

Director Suki Chan said: “Conscious has been an eight-year journey exploring the edges of human consciousness, when memory fades and the self fragments. From growing up between Western and Chinese cultures, observing a deep respect for our elders, to caring for my grandmother as a child, every step has been a marker toward this feature. By following my instincts, I have sought to understand both the strength and the frailty of the human mind. This film is the culmination of that search: a cinematic exploration of what happens when the familiar world recedes.”

Conscious is financed by Screen Scotland, BFI Doc Society and Sundance/Sandbox Films. Sales for global rights is handled by Aconite Productions.

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