All Backwards (2025)
In this non-fiction short film, we follow two performance artists on a worlds-first journey of walking 422 miles entirely backwards, on the famous Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain.
This performance walk was performed and created by Merette van Hijfte and Samuel van Keeken, together with their dachshund Murphy. The backward-pilgrimage is an ode to venturing into the unknown and moving through the fear that the unknown instills in us.
Each step on the 422 mile journey was a step back, all the way from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela. Walking backwards, you move at one-third of a normal pace. Hence, the body entered another rhythm: One of slowness, of vulnerability, of exposure.
On December 10, 2024, we arrived in Santiago. By then, the body and mind had transformed, opened up by the ever-expanding experience of wandering towards the unknown.
Read more on the performance:
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