2021 - 20 min, 3 channel video
The Voluntary Psychopomp
Co-directed with Mathilde Renault
After the sudden loss of my father, I attempted to find new ways to process grief. Looking for strategies, she took a DNA test. The DNA of one individual can tell vastly about the history of colonization, immigration, and cultural exchanges. While visiting key ancestral locations she explored local grieving rituals.
Mixing scientific data about the neuroscience of ritual and Brazilian genetics with the rawness that can only derive from first person accounts, the three-channel film portrays a contemporary psychopomp as a craftswoman.
Writen by Mayra Sérgio
Directed by Mayra Sérgio and Mathilde Renault
Cinematography by Mathilde Renault and Pierre Clément Nivière
Edting by Mathilde Renault
Sound design by Andrés García Vidal
Coreography by Marlieke Burghouts
Extra footage Brasil Sofia Safaad
Extra footage Portugal Flora Lahuerta
Research Brasil Sofia Safaad
Research Portugal Flora Lahuerta
Research Nigeria Cecile Tafanelli
Wood carving adviser Daan Simons
Wood smoking adviser Niels Hendriks
Interns Ida Leijting and Cecile Hübner
Narrators Mayra Sérgio, Michelle Son and Laura Dubourjal-Bergé
Subtitles Michelle Son
© Mayra Sérgio, 2022