Details of: Nummer achttien - the breath of life

Nummer achttien is structured as a series of movements: it departs from the classical documentary to present us with a series of vignettes that combine past and present, existentialist despair and deadpan humour, reflection and creativity, the joys and pains of remembering and forgetting.- Nummer achttien – the breath of life is the true story of Guido van der Werve: an world-renowned video and performance-artist who uses his video art to confront life. Besides, he is a classical pianist, composer, plays chess at a high level and runs ultramarathons. A special life, that almost ends in a fatal traffic accident in 2016. He sustains a traumatic brain injury and is in a coma for a month, with his doctors showing little optimism. However, thanks to the extraordinary condition of his mind and body, he makes a miraculous recovery. In Nummer achttien, which the artist calls ‘autofiction’, he deals with the frustrating rehabilitation process. We discover remarkable parallels with his complicated childhood as he brings memories from his younger years to life. He was often told that he was an abnormal child, and so he severely overcompensated, as the artist puts it. One thing is for sure; if he would have been a bit more like everybody else, he wouldn’t have lived to tell the tale. The film is not only a poetic self-examination, but an ode to all misfits.