Reflective Encounters

“Right from the start, Ieva immerses us into a cosmic and sensitive universe. The sound design plays an important role. The raw sound takes the viewer into a tunnel where communication seems difficult, while indistinct images of a human face and an animal presence emerge. From the outset, the film throws us into a universe focused on the body and sensations, where live action shots contrast with the artificiality of the body that stands in front of our eyes. With its plastic, siliconised frozen flesh, devoid of touch-feel, the central character is an unusual one. Even its clothes seem more alive thanks to their coarseness. Through a medical & psychological experimentation, Ieva deals with the relationship between the machine and the world surrounding it. It shows that technological progress over time has ended up modifying the connection between man and machine, allowing both to merge to become one, endowed with a common sensitivity.

The directorial duo – Vytautas Plukas and Domas Petronis – set out to create a cold visual universe, where the tasteless atmosphere of an experimental laboratory contrasts with the vitality of the body-machine slowly coming to life, and even managing to deceive the animals' senses. For a moment, this body-machine moves us and makes us feel compassion through its loss of identity, as it gradually seems to adapt to the surrounding world... before finally going back to its basic role of an object without feelings.”

— Florian Fernandez