“A raw and admirable metaphilosophic pondering, wherein its truth and intent are ironically and cleverly supported by inconsistent production techniques.”
The Many Benefits of Heartbreak
A collaged animation, collecting memoirs, recordings, and music, following the death of the filmmaker’s mother in 2021.
Director Profile
Luke Schroeder
Director Bio :
Luke is a Detroit-based independent filmmaker and animator. He is finishing his studies at the College for Creative Studies this winter, pursuing a Film degree with plans to move to California in the spring. Combining his passions for film and animation, Luke’s short films have been awarded and featured at festivals around the world. Luke currently writes and edits at a video firm in the city, and is working towards his next short film project to be filmed this November.
Director Statement :
“The Many Benefits of Heartbreak” is a collection of memoirs, songs, poems, and articles I wrote in the time immediately following the death of my mother late last year. An attempt to compartmentalize grief so that it could be processed one chunk at a time. Coping with the passing of time, feelings of emotional isolation, finding motivation, and confronting anxiety. “The Many Benefits” is an exploration of loss through mixed media, collage, and rotoscope animation.
Starting this project late last year, it was an exploration of regret and loss in regards to the end of a long relationship. However, early into the film’s production, my family lost my mother to stomach cancer, and production was halted. Returning to the project after a resting period, my mind remained in a state of chaotic misery, and I made the decision to start from scratch. I began cataloging some of my more complicated thoughts and emotions, telling myself that the work would help me process what I was going through. Only to come to the conclusion that no amount of soul-searching and artistic posturing was going to help me feel alright so quickly after.
After spending a lot of time questioning my motivations, the film began to sort of fold in on itself. My desire to turn mine and my family’s real turmoil into artwork, wanting to feel like what I was going through was important, all just left me feeling selfish and more alone than ever. I stopped pretending that the film had any righteous motivations outside of trying to make myself feel better, finally settling for the uncomfortable truth that no matter what I did I was not going to feel better for a long while.
