Synopsis

The documentary is a journey with Chris Hooson, a singer-songwriter and guitarist of the Leeds-based indie rock band Dakota Suite that presents folk rock full of sorrow. On the journey in search of his musical origins, the camera traces him back to Everton F.C. Stadium where he watched football games in his childhood, and to Liverpool and Preston where his songs, life, and everyday matters take place. Hooson, who once attempted to commit suicide, visits prisoners, acts as a counselor, and lives happily in the thought that this activity is more valuable than his music. The empty and desolate winter landscape in Northern Ireland lingers a while along with Dakota Suite’s music, allowing you to meld into the secret moment when a musician’s inner spiritual world and outer reality meet, and music is finally drawn from silence. The documentary was part of the official selection at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival in 2006 and received a special mention at the Vision du Reel Film Festival in Nyon.

Director

Pascal Hoffman, Benny Jäberg

Pascal Hoffman: Pascal Hoffman was born in 1977 in Chur, Switzerland, and has built a career in architecture, design, and documentary fields. He participated as a camera assistant in the feature documentary *Sounds of Home*. *Dakota Suite - Winter Song* is Pascal and Benny's graduation project from the Film Department of the Zurich University of the Arts. Benny Jäberg: Benny Jäberg was born in 1981 in Baden, Switzerland. He studied film at the Zurich University of the Arts from 2003 and worked as an intern at Swiss Television in 2005.