Manuel Correa

Didn't Know I Died

Manuel Correa’s short film Didn’t Know I Died is a testimonial portrait of the acclaimed Colombian poet Olga Elena Mattei. Earlier in her life during a simple medical operation, Mattei was declared medically dead. In the film, she recounts her first memory upon waking up, a dream. Today, the poet remains secluded in her beautiful chaotic apartment. 

Coming together largely by chance, Correa shot the film after a dinner party one evening at Mattei’s residence (she is the grandmother of one of the artist’s friends). Recorded from an unconventional angle, Didn’t Know I Died allows the viewer to become a fly on the wall in the poet’s private space, where the room is equally as fascinating as the poet herself. From the onset, the visual material of the film mirrors what the poet says. It opens with a black screen and a voiceover of Mattei narrating her near-death experience. Correa holds space for the breadth of the poet’s experience with a fixed angle. Following the black screen, the film shows Mattei in a red dress sitting comfortably on a large brown leather couch. The rest of the screen is taken up by floor to ceiling bookcases filled with books, magazines, over 12 marble and brass statues, a telephone, a telescope, family pictures, lamps, and a ladder. The busy, seductive, and domestic room reflects and animates her state of moving between memories and dreams. A short documentary biopic, Didn’t Know I Died traces how autobiographical memories become archival documents and eventually history.