Dead Minutes (2023)

A group of specialists in systemic change wake to find themselves dead and in a hell of their own imagining. Over a series of meetings, they attempt to apply what they know and believe in to improve societal and material conditions in the afterlife.
The underworld, typically a timeless realm of subjects without will, takes on a newfound mutability. Potential projects of deathly reform emerge from an abundance of analysis, blending sincere idealism, societal analogy, behavioural modelling, historical record, and metaphysics.
By assigning political agency to the totality of all the dead people in human history, the film draws links between the infernal imaginary and contemporary systems modelling. Ideas of the rational actor, the subject or the agent become unravelled, leading to a shared refusal of both the conditions of the dead world, and ultimately those of the living.

Participants
Ana Macanovic, Brian Dermody, Charmae Wissink-Nercua, Corey Andrews, Edith Winkler, Frans Camphuijsen, Nicole Medina Collazo, Somesh Sharma, Txell Blanco Diaz, Zhou Fang

Director of Photography
Nicola Baratto

Camera
Nicola Baratto, Giovanni Salice, Kyulim Kim, Tomasz Skibicki

Sound
Andrés García Vidal

Production
Fernanda Barhumi, Kris Reijersen van Buuren, Monica Mays, Niki Koti

Location
Stadgenoot Amsterdam, Alvaro Quieroz

Colour Grade
Nicola Baratto

Post-Production
Jonathan Aldenberg

Audio Engineering
Eurico Sá Fernandes

Theme to ‘Dead Minutes’
Percival Pembroke

Fresco
Unknown Artist, 2004

‘Dead Minutes’ Game Design Consultant
Ben Robbins

Playtesters
Adam Russel-Jones, Argyrios Emmanouloudis, Daniel Voorthuysen, Elke Uitentuis, Fiona Lutjenhuis, Iswanto Hartono, Linda Kopitz, Mathis Guerreiro, Miloš Trakilović, Nienke Jansen, Pieter Verweij, Reza Afisina, Samuel Vriezen, Sandra Felten, Sidney Nislow, Simon Labbé, Timo Demollin, Toni Pape, Vanessa Groenewegen, Vince Donders, Virág Szentkirályi, Zuquiang Peng, Zhao Fang

Thanks to
Aernout Mik, Alvero Kantoormeubelverhuur , Ansuya Blom, Daniel van der Velden, Emile Frankel, James Tabbush, Monica Mays, Natasha Soobramanien, Nicola Baratto, Pistacyl Pistachios, Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Shaun Motsi, Stadgenoot Amsterdam, Vinca Kruk, Wendelien van Oldenborgh