Do you know you’re dreaming?
A Cinematic Journey into the World of Dreams…
The auteur project “Do You Know You Are Dreaming?” by Martin Michael Stiltenn offers a first-person glimpse behind the curtains of our world, straight into the realm of pure surrealism.
Through point-of-view (POV) cinematography, the audience is immersed in a fascinating stream of dream imagery. Grounded in years of the filmmaker’s authentic dream journals, the visuals carry a deeply personal motif: escaping a toxic childhood environment into the safety of one’s own imagination. The film uniquely combines live-action sequences with classic, handcrafted stop-motion animation.
While the director deliberately omitted a traditional score, Japanese composer Seisuke Dohi enhanced the hypnotic atmosphere of selected scenes with his haunting compositions.
“As a young boy, I wanted to invent a device that could capture and record human dreams. In adulthood, this childhood dream came true—the film camera became that recording device,” says the creator, one of the last traditionally trained mother-of-pearl artisans. He crafted this film with no formal cinematic education, without producers, and entirely through self-funding.
The project received no backing from producers, state funds, or managers. It was a solo endeavor spanning eight long years. Every expense—from set construction and props to post-production—was funded by the sale of the artist’s own paintings and jewelry. Consequently, everyone who purchased the author’s artwork thus became a patron of this film. From prop making and scouting locations to shooting and post-production, the entire film is his own work, made with the vital support and assistance of his wife, Iveta.
This film stands as a triumph of pure artistic passion. In line with the creator’s personal philosophy, dreams are not mere random nighttime illusions, but the true backstage of our world, hidden just behind the facade of our reality. Thus, he views it as his creative duty and a “holy obsession” to smuggle them into our everyday life.