Film was the only work that Beckett wrote specifically for the screen. Starring Buster Keaton, and featuring no dialogue or music (just one ’shhh’), Beckett explores the eighteenth century Irish philosopher Berkeley’s dictum that ’to be is to be perceived’. Keaton attempts to elude the camera’s gaze, only to ultimately discover that it is his own.

Film was directed by Alan Schneider under the personal supervision of Beckett, who travelled to New York to be present through the shooting.