13 Conversations About One Thing

Colour, 35mm
USA, 2001, 94 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

The director, who wrote the screenplay with her sister, adeptly intertwines the stories of several ordinary people who are not aware of each other but whose lives still cross without their knowledge. A man going through a midlife crisis decides to leave his wife and change his life completely. A young ambitious lawyer drives away from the scene of an accident since he is afraid the consequences might affect his career. A woman comes to terms with her husband’s infidelity. An envious businessman plans to take revenge on a popular colleague. A cleaning woman waits optimistically for a miracle. All these characters need to find the answer to a question puzzling philosophers for centuries: What is happiness and how can we achieve it? “I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that a quite banal gesture or coincidence can turn our lives around,” says Jill Sprecher.

About the director

Jill Sprecher lives in New York and studied philosophy, literature and film. She has worked both for large companies and in independent film. Her directorial debut Clockwatchers (1997) was shown at Sundance and subsequently screened at a number of other film festivals. It won the Turin City Prize for Best Film at the International Festival of Young Filmmakers in 1997.