“What We See” began with a post on Instagram by director and photographer Maik Schuster of the directorial collective I AM HERE, asking his followers to participate in a project. The resulting film is a collaboration by people from across the globe sharing their anxieties, hopes, and dreams through a series of intimate online interviews.
The film is a deep dive into private thoughts amplified by feelings of physical isolation and candid connections through disconnection. The submission of dozens of remotely directed videos of people breathing underneath plastic bags aided in the completion of this piece.
“Interestingly enough, I began shooting for this project exactly one year before nationwide lockdowns began in 2020, as isolation in our modern world is a concept I feel that society at large was already experiencing,” said Schuster. “But I never could have imagined the immense impact of a simultaneous global scale lockdown.”
I AM HERE is a directing collective represented globally by production house Iconoclast.
