Heartstone

A man sets off for a mountain expedition in search for a special stone, the Heartstone. It has been asleep in the river for thousands of years. Like a defibrillator he slowly awakens the stone by the movement of his footsteps. When the man finds his beloved Heartstone, he first caresses it with a gentle hand and then ties it up, dragging it through water, moss and mud. Through an inner voice, the Heartstone tries to communicate it’s ambivalent feelings of being treated this way.

How is the longing for love expressed, in works of art and when becoming one half of a couple?
How does feelings, dreams and inspiration, conscious- and unconsciously, flow through the now connected bodies?
And how close is it possible to be to the vision of love?

Even if a dream or emotion is expressed, the receiving part will always have to make a translation and connect the message to his or her own experience.

The spoken words are inspired by the writings of T.S. Elliot (the poem "The Waste Land" in particular) and dedicated to his first wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot.

  • Nils Agdler
    Director
  • Fröydi Laszlo
    Director
  • Fröydi Laszlo
    Writer
  • Nils Agdler
    Producer
  • Fröydi Laszlo
    Producer
  • Nils Agdler
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Feature, Short
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 1, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    500 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Sweden
  • Country of Filming:
    Sweden
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    UHD digital video
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Film Festival Fivehundredthousand at Deptford Cinema
    London
    United Kingdom
    April 6, 2019
    UK Premiere
  • City Arts Nottingham at the Institute of Mental Health
    Nottingham
    United Kingdom
    June 5, 2019
  • Ahlbergshallen, Gallery in Östersund, Sweden
    Östersund
    Sweden
    November 10, 2018
    Swedish Premiere
Distribution Information
  • Nils Agdler
    Country: Sweden
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Nils Agdler, Fröydi Laszlo

Nils Agdler (b.1969) is a Swedish visual artist, photographer and filmmaker. He received a MFA from Konstfack in Stockholm, followed by studies in fine arts at Valand Academy in Gothenburg. In his artistic practice, Agdler is interested in contemporary social and visual phenomena, representation and history, posthumanism and colonialism, primarily working in the fields of photography and film. He has been collaborating with the artist and filmmaker Timo Menke in several film projects such as Fugitives from the Fields (2005), Gifted Men (2015) and Brothers to Sisters (2018). Over the past 20 years, he has worked on issues that concern men and masculinities, and produced several exhibitions related to this theme. His work has been shown at museums such as The 5th Moscow Biennale, Kalmar Art museum, Pori Art Museum, Gothenburg Art Museum and Ostrale Biennale O21 in Dresden. Recently also at festivals such as 24th Très Court International Film Festival, Sidney World Film Festival, Berlin Flash Film Festival, Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, 35th Kasseler Dokfest, Exground filmfest in Wiesbaden, Festival des Cinémas Différents and Sheffield Fringe.

Since 2018 he is also collaborating with the artist/publisher Fröydi Laszlo, investigating relations between humans and non-humans in Heartstone (2018) and in the ongoing project The Pest (2018-).

Fröydi Laszlo is a visual artist living in Gothenburg. She holds an MFA from Konstfackskolan in Stockholm (environmental arts), a Masters from The Valand Academy, Gothenburg University (the Histories of Photography), and has read art theory and philosophy at advanced level. She is the editor of artist-run 284 Publishing, which specializes in visual art, post- and non-human theory. Since 2016, she has been investigating how human relations to plants are colored by anthropomorphic projections. In areas of friction with plants, they tend to be described as animals (plant pets or plant monsters). This is the case for the two plants she has focused on, the fresh water algae Aegagrophila linnaei (or Marimo) and Fallopia japonica (Japanese Knotweed or Itadori). Her research combines theoretical writing, photography, and performance. Since 2011 she has been leading the multidisciplinary network Club Anthropocene, which is based in Gothenburg but is widely distributed with members and activities in the Nordic countries, Europe, Peru, USA, India and New Zealand.

Add Director Biography