In his latest film, ESSAIS, Hannes Schüpbach explores movements and the transition from one to another. The filmmaker observes seven befriended creatives and researchers, and captures their habitus, their idiosyncratic movements and gestures. The central protagonist is dancer Kira Blazek. The film is edited in such a way that her experimental sequences of movements enter into a dialogue with the film’s other actors. The unifying element is her inner urge to try things out. Schüpbach accompanies Stephen Watts, Eléonore Bernard, Heba-Raphaëlle Meffre, Flurin Cuonz, Marco Baschera and Jiajia Zhang with his camera. Alongside movement, clothing also plays a key role in ESSAIS: With different tops and with her face concealed, Kira Blazek acts out new possibilities in dance. Heba-Raphaëlle Meffre uses clothing for a sensual entranced masquerade. And it serves Jiajia Zhang as an extension of her arms’ movements.