Demon Hands

WHEN IT SEEMS THAT YOU HAVE LOST THE VERY PURPOSE OF YOUR EXISTENCE

The film is about focal dystonia - a disease that primarily strikes professional musicians. This disease ruins the lives of tens of thousands of musicians, in part because the patients are afraid to talk about it, and because doctors misdiagnose the condition. The film originated in a screenplay by classical guitarist Sándor Mester (known as MS3), who suffered from this disease for more than a decade. The film, shot in Budapest, Barcelona, Terrassa, Hannover and New York, interviews musicians from eight different countries who either suffer from dystonia or have recovered. The crew also visited two institutes which treat such patients: the Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine (Hannover, Germany) and the Institute of Physiology and Medicine of Art (Barcelona and Terrassa, Spain). Depression, alcoholism, suicide - this is the path followed by musicians with focal dystonia. Yet contrary to popular belief, this condition is indeed curable.

"The main cause of focal dystonia is simply one's existence as a highly trained professional musician," says Jaume Rosset i Llobet, director of the Terrassa institute.

"August 14, 1831: … if only I didn't have any fingers, and could play for others from my heart!" - ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856)

Director

Eszter Hajdú

Chief Cameraman

Róbert Maly

Cameraman

Viktor Csaba Nemeth, Marcel Rév, Ákos Rózsa

Chief Production Manager

Norbert Solymosi

Production Manager

Sandor Mester (MS3

Sound

Ferenc Gerendai és Péter Nagy

Diary Extacts

Zsolt Nagy

Audio Mastering

Zsolt Szabó

Editor

Gergely Roszik

Scenario

Eszter Hajdu and MS3

Music

Sandor Mester (MS3)

Producer

Janos Veszi, Forum Film Foundation 2010