Terminally Happy

Three unrelated sci-fi stories that depict people’s search for happiness.

In the summer of 2014, tens of thousands of guests flocked to the Serpentine Gallery in London to experience Marina Abramović’s exhibition ‘512 Hours’. But when it opened, it dawned on everyone that the audience itself was the actual work in the iconic performance artist’s landmark exhibition. The audience members were also active participants and co-creators of the social experiment, which - set against the minimalist background of the gallery’s empty space - developed continuously into new, unpredictable directions during the three weeks (or 512 hours) in which the exhibition took place, while Abramović herself took part in the performative ritual.

In the household of a wealthy Romanian noblewoman in 1855, Maria, a Roma-Gipsy slave, fights to obtain freedom for her son Dinca. Part of a future full-length project, the short film presents a day in the household in which Maria and her son, Dinca, serve as slaves. As important guests arrive for dinner and all the slaves are making preparations, Maria and her son see this day as a chance to take a step to change their fate. During slavery time, up until 1856, the Romanian equivalent of the word "forgiveness" was used when referring to freeing someone from slavery (the Roma slave was "forgiven" from slavery).