Demon Hands
Director Hajdu Eszter
Countries Germany, Spain, Hungary, Portugal, United States
Duration 54 min
Synopsis
When it seems that you have lost the very purpose of your existence The film is about focal dystonia - a disease that primarily strikes professional musicians. This disease ruins the lives of tens of thousands of musicians, in part because the patients are afraid to talk about it, and because doctors misdiagnose the condition. The film originated in a screenplay by classical guitarist Sándor Mester (known as MS3), who suffered from this disease for more than a decade. The film, shot in Budapest, Barcelona, Terrassa, Hannover and New York, interviews musicians from eight different countries who either suffer from dystonia or have recovered. The crew also visited two institutes which treat such patients: the Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine (Hannover, Germany) and the Institute of Physiology and Medicine of Art (Barcelona/Terrassa, Spain). Depression, alcoholism, suicide - this is the path often followed by musicians with focal dystonia. Yet contrary to popular belief, this condition is indeed curable. „The main cause of focal dystonia is simply one’s existence as a high-skilled professional musician,” says Jaume Rosset i Llobet, director of the Terrassa institute. “August 14, 1831: … if only I didn’t have any fingers, and could play for others from my heart!” Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
When it seems that you have lost the very purpose of your existence The film is about focal dystonia - a disease that primarily strikes professional musicians. This disease ruins the lives of tens of thousands of musicians, in part because the patients are afraid to talk about it, and because doctors misdiagnose the condition. The film originated in a screenplay by classical guitarist Sándor Mester (known as MS3), who suffered from this disease for more than a decade. The film, shot in Budapest, Barcelona, Terrassa, Hannover and New York, interviews musicians from eight different countries who either suffer from dystonia or have recovered. The crew also visited two institutes which treat such patients: the Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine (Hannover, Germany) and the Institute of Physiology and Medicine of Art (Barcelona/Terrassa, Spain). Depression, alcoholism, suicide - this is the path often followed by musicians with focal dystonia. Yet contrary to popular belief, this condition is indeed curable. „The main cause of focal dystonia is simply one’s existence as a high-skilled professional musician,” says Jaume Rosset i Llobet, director of the Terrassa institute. “August 14, 1831: … if only I didn’t have any fingers, and could play for others from my heart!” Robert Schumann (1810-1856)