Jiří Kylián: Sehnsucht

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Longing to be addicted

2025_DOCUMENTARY_FILM_IN_POSTPRODUCTION

Jiří Kylián

Set on an idyllic Dutch island, JIŘÍ KYLIÁN: SEHNSUCHT captures the choreographer as he creates one last work for his longtime partner, Sabine Kupferberg.

Jiří met Sabine in Stuttgart when she was seventeen years old. From the beginning, he was captivated by her acting and her sense of humor. The first ballet Jiří created with her was called “Incantations” (1971) — since then, they have collaborated on fifty-seven ballets, films, and installations together.

“Sabine is my torchbearer. Through her dance, I can express my view of the world.”

The island of Terschelling, near The Hague, where Jiří emigrated in the early 1970s, plays a key role. This coastal landscape is exceptionally magical and symbolic. Inimitable Dutch light and clouds reflect off water canals, lakes, and the sea. The ebb and flow mirror our fleeting mortality — the boundary between life and death. We will witness its transformation.

The choreography and film documenting the collaboration between Jiří and Sabine from 1975 to the present will present Jiří’s philosophy and showcase not only their lifelong creative work but also their deep love.

Jiří and Sabine

The camera plays an absolutely leading part. A curious “creature,” and also the main “character” of this film. By chance, it will drift into the realm where our protagonists once fatefully met for a blind date. With curiosity, and intense focus, it will watch them and thoroughly scrutinize them. But in the end, it will lose interest in them and fly away – perhaps back into space.

Through their exhilarating and bold work, they engage in a physical dialogue about art, creation, dance, love, and the impermanence of life. Again and again, as they have done for fifty years of shared professional and personal life, they will together discover something hidden in the farthest corners of our souls — something sacred, yet elusive.

Team behind the film