ÉPOCHÈ – Persona Film I/S

The suspension of verbal and perceptive judgment, the suspension of conceptual superimpositions on lived experience, is the common ground of both phenomenology and meditative practice. But how does one suspend judgment? How does it feel? What kinds of understanding of ourselves and our relation to others and to the world may unfold through this particular operation?

In May 2019, 40 phenomenologists and meditators met near Loire valley to form a living laboratory. Their purpose was to investigate the experience of épochè; a central concept in phenomenology, often referred to as the act of suspending judgment.

This film documents how new understandings emerge in interactions between phenomenologists and experienced meditators. Through microphenomenological interviews and meditation they come to see the contours of specific micro-acts and micro-events that appear to be key to our ability of suspending judgment.

Directed by: Christian Suhr and Claire Petitmengin
Filmed by: Christian Suhr
Edited by: Mette Bahnsen
Produced by: Christian Suhr, Mette Bahnsen, Claire Petitmengin, Natalie Depraz, and Michel Bitbol