''Poétique du cerveau'' (English: ''Poetics of the Brain'') is a 66-minute 2015 French-German-Israeli French-, Hebrew-, and Italian-language independent underground experimental documentary art film directed by

Nurith Aviv Nurith Aviv () is a French film director and director of photography who was born 11 March 1945, in Tel Aviv (then in Mandatory Palestine). Biography Nurith Aviv has directed fourteen documentary films, and the topic of language is central ...

Synopsis

Childhood photos from Nurith Aviv's family album evoke memories and reflections which lead her to encounters with researches in

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

. The film, released on DVD by Epicentre Films, weaves associative links between Aviv's personal biographical stories and interviews she conducts with neuroscientists about their work. These scientists, including Prof. Dr. Laurent Cohen, Prof. Dr.

Yadin Dudai Yadin Dudai (; born December 8, 1944) is a neuroscientist, Professor (emeritus) of Neurobiology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and the Albert and Blanche Willner Family Global Distinguished Professor of Neural Science at ...

, Dr.

Sharon Peperkamp Sharon Andrea Peperkamp (b. 1967) is a Dutch linguistics, linguist and senior research scientist with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Since 2010 she has served as director of research of the Laboratoire de Sciences Cogn ...

, and Prof. Dr.

Vittorio Gallese Vittorio Gallese is professor of Psychobiology at the University of Parma, Italy, and was professor in Experimental Aesthetics at the University of London, UK (2016–2018). He is an expert in neurophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, social neu ...

, discuss topics partly related to Aviv's previous films:

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...

bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

, reading, mirror-neurons, smell, and traces of experience.

Reception

The film, which includes music by Werner Hasler, was financed ''inter alia'' by Les Films d’ici, Angoa-Association of International Collective Management of Audiovisual Works, KTO, Conseil régional des Pays de la Loire,

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

, Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, Procirep, Ministry of Culture and Sport's Israel Film Council,

Mifal HaPayis Mifal HaPais () is Israel's government-owned lottery company. It comprises the state's near monopoly on legal gambling together with the Israel Sports Betting Board (ISBB) (). The name translates to ''The Institute of Lottery'' In 2012, Mifal HaP ...

, and

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

- Yafo Municipality's Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts. The film was screened at Les 3 Luxembourg in 2015 and 2016, at

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

in 2015, and at

DocAviv Docaviv (), also known as the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival, is the only film festival in Israel dedicated to documentary films, and the largest film festival in Tel Aviv. It is run by a non-profit organisation of the same name ...

Tel Aviv Cinematheque Tel Aviv Cinematheque (also called: Doron Cinema center) is a cinematheque and movie archive, opened in Tel Aviv on 12 May 1973. The Cinematheque, located at HaArba'a Street 5, has five screening halls. The Cinematheque programming includes Is ...

, and

Sderot Cinematheque Sderot Cinematheque is a film archive in Sderot, Israel. The Sderot Cinematheque was established in December 1999. It was founded by Haim Bresheeth in cooperation with Sapir Academic College and Sderot mayor Eli Moyal. The Sderot Cinematheque, ...

’s in 2016.

References

External links