Bennett Davlin

Bennett Joshua Davlin

The Hamburg Express
interview by Inge Kunzelmann, RHP

Q: Is “Memory” based on scientific facts of genetic research or pure fiction? (In other words: Could it ever be possible to read someone else’s mind?)

It’s based on the theory of “genetically inherited memory” proposed by scientists in the 1960’s to explain how animals have instinctual skills that they don’t learn. Consider a baby turtle which swims alone thousands of miles to a place its never been to in order to breed. The theory proposes that the organism has its parents’ memories woven into its DNA. So in human infants, skills like sucking and crying would be genetically inherited from parent to offspring; which is sort of like reading someone’s mind in a way. When the human genome was mapped in the late “90’s, scientists discovered that the majority of your DNA code has no role in your life functions. So some scientists returned to this theory, thinking the DNA code may be storing memories.

Q: Seeing someone else’s memories must sound tempting to many people. Do you think one would benefit from reading someone else’s mind?

I think being in someone else’s head would be a life changing experience. It’s the basic concept behind the novel and movie. Because in becoming someone else, you would live their experiences, good and bad, and these would become your own as if you had done them.

Q: Do you want to bring across a certain message with “Memory”?

Memory is a moral tale. My hero remembers doing evil things as if he did them himself. And still, he has to work through that. It’s almost like two souls locked together in his head and he has to fight out this moral battle. And I think it’s a story we can all relate to through our sense of empathy.

Q: Do you think a film can ever be as “good” as the book it is based on? (Did you have to sacrifice any ideas that weren’t realisable in the film?)

This is an interesting question. As a professional screenwriter with studio credits, I had definite ideas about film-making before writing, producing, and directing the movie. I learn how different the art forms are. It’s not that one is better than the other. You can do different things with each medium. So it’s sort of like writing different stories in different languages, while always realizing how to make each emotionally pay off for the audience. Because that’s what it’s all about.

Q: You wrote the screenplay and produced and directed “Memory”. In how far were others involved in making the film?

As a director I am very detail minded. I used Alfred Hitchcock’s approach and drew every frame of the film, shot by shot, telling a story through 1700 individual drawings. So each image leads to the next shot the way these sentences and words link together into a coherent stream of ideas. But at the same time, film-making is a collaborative art. So my ideas are a launching pad to my department heads who fill in any additional space. On the darker side, there is also a great deal of politics which goes on in film-sets which is really about ego and has little to do with the quality of the film. So it’s a real battle that you wage to get an idea from conception to the audience.