One of the most interesting facets of art is how different artists can choose to represent the same themes based on their experiences in feelings. Oftentimes, subjects or ideas can manifest in different ways for certain artists, creating differences in how they depict them. One may represent a subject through a faster-moving and vibrant work, while another may portray it as gloomy and stoic. Despite these two depictions being vastly different, they both represent the subject and how the artist connects and views it. Two great examples of this contrast of portrayals within the theme of loss are Martin Gerigk’s Prayer of the Sea and Sasha Alexander Vorobyev’s What a Surprise. These works differ greatly in their story and look, but both experiment with color and shot size to explore the complex theme of loss.
Prayer of the Sea explores the feeling of passing and dissolving into the ground and ocean. The film, inspired by a dream that inspired the music composed by Gerigk within the piece, explores a human’s final moments as they view the world around them and slowly become a part of it. Prayer of the Sea provides audiences with the sensorial experience of life ending and moving. The ocean, a place commonly viewed as calming and restoring, represents this serenity in the human’s acceptance of their life and passing. In a different exploration of an aspect of loss, What a Surprise follows Monica, a young girl working at an ice cream shop, as she ponders her past relationship while her coworkers do the same. The film dissects her past love and how it began as romantic and fantastical, but became cold and toxic. Vorobyev’s What a Surprise captures this feeling of a budding relationship and the excitement of a new relationship, and how it feels to look back and see it for what it truly was. It portrays this idea of losing someone you once thought was your world. Both films explore this theme of loss and acceptance in incredibly different ways, yet both are relatable to audiences and offer a safe place to sit with these more difficult-to-process emotions and feel them for once.
Both Prayer of the Sea and What a Surprise feature prominent colors that offer insight into their characters’ feelings and viewpoints. Prayer of the Sea is predominantly black and white, apart from select light blues that appear in the water. Despite his world and life ending, the man chooses to focus on the water around him and how it moves and pulls him in. Light blue incites feelings and memories of youth and calmness, pairing well with the film’s messaging of a peaceful passing and movement. What a Surprise predominantly features light pink, a color that symbolizes gentleness and innocence, similar to the memories Monica ponders about in her past relationship before it ended. Additionally, during her last relationship, Monica’s hair was half pink, but in the present is now half blonde, another nod to that early romance and optimism before the breakup. The light pinks contrast greatly with Monica’s more blue mood throughout the film, suggesting that Monica is greatly reminded of the past period in her life.
In both of their respective films, Gerigk and Vorobyev experiment with shot scales and the impact it holds on their stories. Gerigk utilizes a range of wider shots with select closer ones to incite a more grand feel. Audiences watch most as observers, yet still see the emotion in the main character’s face as he accepts his fate and grief. Vorobyev utilizes closer shots while Monica reflects on her time with her past partner. Audiences see her joyful emotions within these memories, and as the relationship changes, the shot scale becomes wider, a nod to the growing distance between the two.
Martin Gerigk’s Prayer of the Sea and Sasha Alexander Vorobyev’s What a Surprise both tell poignant tales about human loss and how it is navigated and felt. While their films are greatly different, they both utilize cinematic techniques to tell their respective stories and offer audiences a look into the collective feeling of loss that everyone faces.
What A Surprise and Prayer of the Sea will be screening at the Fall 2025 New Jersey Film Festival on Sunday, September 7 as part of a Shorts Program. The films will be Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 5 PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ. Tickets are available for purchase here.
The 44th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place between September 5-October 10, 2025. The Festival will be a hybrid as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VoD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person screenings. Plus, we are very proud to announce that acclaimed band Cold Weather Company will be doing an audio-visual concert on Friday, October 10 at 7PM. Lastly, we will be offering three FREE Filmmaking Workshops! The in-person screenings and the Cold Weather Company concert will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 1PM, 5PM or 7PM on their show date. General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$120; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program. The Filmmaking Workshops are FREE and open to the public but have limited seating and require advance registration. To register email us at [email protected]
For more info go here: https://newjerseyfilmfestivalfall2025.eventive.org/welcome
