Anxiety During Isolation? It’s not just you.

Director, Maik Schuster’s riveting film explores ‘what we see.’

Abesi Manyando
3 min readJul 15, 2020

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Image courtesy of I am here

Imagine the inception of a film beginning with a simple instagram post and question? What does it feel like to be isolated? To a skeptic this may seem a bit unordinary right? Not for Director, Maik Schuster. A simple question transpired into an inescapable visual vignette on film. The stories of people sharing their fears, anxiety, hopes and dream through a series of online interviews is beautifully and at times disturbingly captured in this poignant film. It is all in real reality- with no influence or spins. Just honesty and transparency. “What We See” is vulnerability in its most authentic definition. An invitation into varied worlds with common experiences- which even in this pandemic and intense racial climate reveals how much more alike we are then different. This is the beauty of “What We see.” This is the kind of cinematography and storytelling many of us crave for in a world inundated with a plethora of content that leaves us un-inspired and lifeless.

Life itself is strange enough and confusing. When you add the ingredient of isolation it transpires into an imbalanced matrix of confusion and uncertainty. Isolation has become our new normal, this is clear. How we mentally navigate through this Covid 19 pandemic in isolation is a little less clear. How do people function in isolation? Where does the mind run off to. How do you maintain in constant periods of aloneness without succumbing to your loneliness and fears. What do we see in the unclarity that clouds the brain and distorts perception. “What We See is a film that couldn’t have come at a better time as the world is in complete lockdown. It is a film by many. A film about our internal feelings during physical isolation. A document of our time — and how it mirrors who we once were.

Why was isolation important for you to document?

“I think isolation is one of the most relevant topics of our time. We spend so much time on social media but see our…

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Abesi Manyando