Getting Lost: "The Last Days of Peter Bergmann"

What does it mean to get lost in our social media saturated, closed circuit tv monitored, and Googlable world? This poor man, whose name wasn't really Peter Bergmann, decided to lose himself in a small Irish town. His final days are documented in this haunting short film:


The Last Days of Peter Bergmann Trailer from Fastnet Films on Vimeo.

The full 19 minute long film can be watcher here at Aeon Video: The Last Days of Peter Bergmann.
The film explores how unsettling we find the idea of a lack of identify, and deliberate efforts of a man to leave this world anonymously. Randall Sullivan's article from WIRED tells the fascinating story of a modern bounty hunter: "The World's Best Bounty Hunter is 4'11" - Here's How She Hunts" -- in it we follow the hunt for criminals trying desperately to stay off the grid and out of prison. These are people who would love to gain the anonymity of Peter Bergmann. Contrast these present day stories with the heartbreaking documentary "No Place on Earth" and the efforts of a group of Ukrainian Jews fleeting nazi troops and disappearing into a cave for over a year.



NO PLACE ON EARTH TRAILER YOUTUBE 5D from Janet Tobias on Vimeo.

Each of these texts examines how deeply rooted in our societies we are and how difficult it is for individuals to vanish.

Additional resources:  Interview with Ciaran Cassidy (writer/director of "The Last Days of Peter Bergmann")