Wide Awake

What do you do when you feel jetlagged in your own time zone? Filmmaker Alan Berliner works all night and even then has trouble getting to sleep. He has always felt tired, from his early childhood on. Now that he's going to be a father, he wants to know if his problem is hereditary. Can he get back to a normal rhythm so that he'll be able to see his child in the morning hours? Thorough as he is, Berliner takes stock of his complaints. He researches what constitutes normal, contemplates possible causes and tests remedies ranging from herbal tea, sleeping pills and hot baths to counting sheep, frogs and wooden chests. Berliner introduces famous early and late risers, examines why his work has a sleep-inducing effect on students and what the connection is between sleep and death. is a film full of interviews, archival footage, home movies and personal observations. In rhythmic sequences provided with sound effects, music and personal ironic comments, he weaves his investigation into a multicoloured diary. The threads include a conversation with his mother, sister and wife around the kitchen table and some recurring dreams about desires, visualised as fairytales. Humour is the final, decisive ingredient. Once his son is born, Berliner only needs to reset his biological clock. But what if he has to pay for it by losing his creativity?