A year after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, we remember all the time we lost and the periods of reflection we had. For months around the world, we watched out our windows: gazing at empty streets, neighbors singing and clapping, protestors marching for equality; gazing at the uncertainty of the road that lay ahead.
During lockdown, directors Nadav Kander and Johan Kramer of Chelsea Pictures had an idea–to capture this contemplation and the ideals of a better future in a way that every person could understand, so that we might remember this moment in time long after it’s passed. Staring out your window–through the looking glass–to a more equal and sustainable future for everyone.
Produced by Chelsea Pictures, Don’t Go Back to Sleep is a reflection of the year in the early lockdown period. All pictures were taken inside homes looking out of windows during the Lockdown from March-June. The piece is narrated and co-created by famous landscape and portrait photographer Kander, who reads a quote from Rumi which resonates with the place we are in as a society now. Through the pandemic, U.S. election and environmental crisis, the message is simple: as we begin to find a place in our new normal, don’t go back to sleep on the issues we have yet to resolve.
Final Cut served as editorial/post house, additionally providing sound design and mix.
