An elderly woman recollects and reconnects with her past as her memories fade back to her in the form of a dance; a dream, a nightmare.

Anna (80) sits in her chair day in and day out. Her previous life as an acrobat unknown to those who care for her as she lives out Nietzsche’s Eternal Return, and is constantly plunged back into her past and a terrible choice she had to make many years ago as ‘the eternal hourglass of existence is turned over again and again, and you with it speck of dust’. 60 years previously, in a far too familiar time of political uncertainty and far right ideology, Anna must choose between her lover Victor, a persecuted artist, and her acrobatic partner Peter who is a member of the party putting her lover at risk. After a fight, Victor begs Anna not to go to the theatre, stating that he doesn’t trust Peter, that they need to escape now before it’s too late. Ignoring Peter, Anna goes to work, but as she dances with Victor, putting her life in his hands to perform daring and dangerous throws and lifts, she too realises that this is not a man to be trusted. Trust in times of political distrust is explored on screen as Anna’s dance becomes surreal and confused. She finds herself on stage, her young self and her old self, dancing with both Victor and Peter as she realises the audience has filled with an ominous military presence and she is trapped. Trapped in her memories. Trapped in her mind. Trapped in her regret. Anna runs home after the performance to find that it’s too late, and the party have come for Victor. The tragedy plays out through the eyes and minds of both the young and the old Anna, time becoming blurred, memory and reality becoming one and regret and remorse reigning strong.

Eternal Hourglass is an experimental dance film blending narrative storytelling with elite physical performance, to explore themes of power, control, love, loss and regret.