Filmmaker Statement

HANNAH is a tragic love story, where writer-director Reinier Smit investigates the two isolated worlds of a married couple dealing with dementia. Hannah – played by Romana Vrede –, is a young woman in the prime of her life who suffers from dementia. She is no longer able to understand what is happening around her and is trapped in her own nightmarish world. Her husband and caregiver Otto – played by Peter Paul Muller –, tries to do the best he can, but the woman he’s been married to for twenty years doesn’t even recognize him anymore. Due to Hannah’s illness the two lovers are no longer able to reconnect with other. They live in parallel worlds, like two lonely rafts that float in a massive ocean. Despite all this, Hannah and Otto still seem to feel the love that once brought them together. But is that enough during this last stage of Hannah’s dementia? HANNAH is a short film about loss, mourning and letting go. The visual language of HANNAH is poetic and wayward due to the emotive nature of the story. With HANNAH writer-director Reinier Smit tries to capture the everlasting feeling of love in the final moment of parting ways.