In 2009, a grey-haired man arrived by bus in the seaport town of Sligo in Ireland. Under the name Peter Bergmann, he checked into a hotel and carried three large pieces of luggage to his room. Over the next three days, he was captured by closed-circuit security cameras leaving the hotel with a full plastic bag and returning to his room with nothing. On the fourth day, he went to the nearby seaside village of Rosses Point, where he would later wash up on the shore. A haunting mystery unravelled through a combination of eye-witness interviews and CCTV footage, The Last Days of Peter Bergmann is an existential rumination on a mysterious man’s story – or perhaps on its absence.
In 2009, a man arrived in an Irish town with a plan to disappear forever
Director: Ciaran Cassidy
Producer: Morgan Bushe

videoSocial psychology
Disturbed loner? Gentle recluse? Opinions on an infamous Maine hermit run the gamut
23 minutes

videoLove and friendship
After 30 years of solitude, Peter forms an unlikely friendship with a fellow loner
10 minutes

videoValues and beliefs
The curious case of a man, his bike and their odd act in a hotel room
10 minutes

videoConsciousness and altered states
A glimpse into the dangerous and thrilling life of a big wave surf photographer
6 minutes

videoArt
Using street art to bring Regency warriors to an ancient Viking landscape
4 minutes

videoOceans and water
Not quite ashore – the in-between world of a cargo-ship rest stop
8 minutes

videoAutomation and robotics
The workflow at a container terminal becomes a mesmerising mechanical ballet
8 minutes

videoVirtues and vices
Why Bennie tried to disappear, and what happened when he was found decades later
16 minutes

videoSubcultures
Caspar Salmon trawls for the strange truth behind a fishy family legend
14 minutes