‘I remember everything…’ So begins Maybe It’s Me, in which the Greek-born, London-based animator Dimitris Simou grapples with how to hold on to memories of the summer when his grandfather’s memory began to decline. Reflecting on the simultaneous robustness and fragility of memory – its power to summon a vivid scene from a single scent, and its unsettling tendency to deteriorate with age and illness – Simou recalls several distressing interactions as his grandfather slipped into dementia and no longer recognised him. Where Simou’s own memories fail him, his visuals deconstruct, revealing unfinished animations and moments of darkness that mirror the uncertainties of his recollections. The animation was a film festival favourite in 2018, screening at the BFI London Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and the Palm Springs International ShortFest, among others.
What happens to our own memories when family elders start to forget us?
Director: Dimitris Simou
videoBiography and memoir
A man looks back on life with his beloved wife – on the ebb and flow of memories
3 minutes
videoCognition and intelligence
A father forgets his child’s name for the first time in this poetic reflection on memory
4 minutes
videoIllness and disease
Moved by my father: a hallucinatory animated meditation on the body in motion
9 minutes
videoBiography and memoir
Do we need our memories when we can document virtually every aspect of our lives?
10 minutes
videoTechnology and the self
A haunting scene from ‘Minority Report’ inspires a voyage into time and memory
7 minutes
videoDeath
A boy grapples with death while waiting to take over his sick grandmother’s room
10 minutes
videoFamily life
Shaggy bear story: a German filmmaker grapples with his dear grandfather’s Nazi past
8 minutes
videoFamily life
The stream-of-consciousness thoughts and memories that emerge while cooking a meal
5 minutes
videoMental health
The dark side of ego loss – what it’s like to disappear into depersonalisation
9 minutes