To prevent anxiety and optimize their wellbeing, an increasing number of people across the Western world use data technology. But what is actually measured when collecting data about our men- tal state? And what gets lost in this quest for our optimal selves?

How many hours did you sleep last night? Do you count things for no reason? Have your thoughts ever been controlled by someone outside of you? Prevention plays a growing role in mental health. Instead of curing people, the objective is to prevent disorders by collecting enormous amounts of data. If only night wouldn’t fall is questioning this development.

In three interwoven stories - in The Netherlands, Norway and the USA, we observe different stages of prevention: from children at a primary school that get an ‘early intervention’ to keep away anxie-
ty disorders at a later age, to a young man that tries to avoid a new psychosis. A next level is reached in Florida where a city without friction is built in order make all residents happy. As in a disquieting investigation, the protagonists in this film are being measured and questioned all of the time, for their own benefit. But what gets lost in this quest for our optimal selves?

WRITER & DIRECTOR Marc Schmidt
EDITING Saskia Kievits, NCE
CAMERA Jean Charles Counet, Janne Lindgren, Jefrim Rothuizen, Reinout Steenhuizen
SOUND Åse Svenheim Drivenes Marc Schmidt
SOUND DESIGN & MIX Senjan Jansen Bert Aerts
MUSIC Ketil Vestrum Einarsen Simen Nygård Haustreis
TEXT INNER VOICE Saskia de Jong
GRAPHICS Rogério Lira
RESEARCH & LINE PRODUCER US Paramita Nath
COLORING Qianwei Tong
POST SUPERVISOR Julia van Schieveen

Distributor the Netherlands Cinema Delicatessen

SALES AGENT Andanafilms

KRO-NCRV COMMISSIONING EDITOR Jelle Peter de Ruiter
KRO-NCRV PRODUCER Yolande van der Blij

CREATIVE PRODUCER 2021-2023 Frank van den Engel
CO-PRODUCERS FUGLENE Kari Anne Moe and Gudmundur Gunnarson
CO-PRODUCERS CLIN D'OEIL FILMS Hanne Phlypo, Evelien De Graef
PRODUCERS BASALT FILM Simone van den Broek, Eline van Wees

This film has been developed with the support of the EURODOC workshop 2021

With financial support Dutch Cultural Media Fund, NPO-Fund, CoBO, Netherlands Film Fund, Netherlands Film Production Incentive, Norwegian Film Institute,
Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF),Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, taxshelter.be and ING
Shelter Prod.