Maik's graduation film. A cinematic short exploring how media addiction mirrors substance dependency — told through real behaviour, real pressure, and no easy answers.
The Production
A one-person production almost start to finish. As his Bachelor's thesis film at IU Internationale Hochschule, Maik wrote, directed, shot, and edited REWIND himself — casting a friend as the lead to keep the story grounded in something real rather than performative. What crew there was doubled up on roles out of necessity: gear was borrowed where it could be, locations were whatever a student budget and a few favours could secure, and most of the shoot happened around a day job and coursework rather than on a dedicated production schedule.
Director: Maik Repsch
Cinematography: Maik Repsch
Editor: Maik Repsch
Lead Actress
Institution: IU Internationale Hochschule
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Shoot Days
Stills
Frame grabs from the film — add yours here.
The Challenge
Working essentially alone came with its own set of problems. Directing and operating camera at the same time meant every take required trusting the performance without a second pair of eyes to catch it live — most scenes only got confirmed once footage was reviewed later. The lead actress had no professional acting background, which meant building trust and a comfortable environment mattered as much as blocking a shot. And squeezing shoot days in around a full course load meant locations and schedules had to bend to whatever windows actually existed, not the other way around.
The Full Story
The Concept
The metaphor came first: what if compulsive phone use was filmed with the same visual language as addiction? That question shaped almost every choice that followed — the close, claustrophobic framing, the way light falls in a bedroom lit only by a phone screen, the recurring motif of an eye watching, or being watched by, a glowing rectangle. It's less a film about phones specifically than about the pull of anything that promises an escape.
The Edit
Shot mostly handheld and close, the edit leans into discomfort rather than polish — jump cuts where a traditional film would smooth things over, silences held a beat too long. Colour grading stays warm and low in the private, isolated scenes, then shifts colder and more saturated wherever other people are actually present, underlining just how disconnected 'connection' through a screen can feel.
The Impact
REWIND was submitted and passed as Maik's Bachelor's thesis, but its real test came from friends and classmates who watched it and recognised themselves in it a little too easily. That reaction — recognition over praise — was the actual goal from the start.