Practicing theory: mnemophrenia – a film-essay on the future of cinema and artificial memories

The foundation of my film Mnemophrenia was about practising theory instead of theorizing the practice. My project begins with theory, which then leads to the science fiction film Mnemophrenia that constitutes the practical aspect of it. My film demonstrates how theory and practice can be joined and creates a fruitful union, each one feeding the other. My original theoretical hypothesis is founded on the much-discussed subject of the close relationship between film and memory and more specifically the possible creation of ‘artificial’ memories. Mnemophrenia showcases how film can be a memory system itself, consequently affecting memory and creating artificial memories for the viewers. In Mnemophrenia reality and fiction are integrated, mutually negating each other, since the established reality depicted in the film is proven to be ‘artificial’, based fully on different Virtual Reality films. Ultimately the film and this thesis aim to explore the future of cinema that leads to the blurring of real and artificial memories. Together they attempt to demonstrate the dissolution of these boundaries, to display the two-way relationship of reality and fiction and to showcase how theory fuels practice and practice enlivens theory.