In Chapter 3HREE Smith's work The Kiss (1999) is shown. Where we are initially invited by an image of mysterious beauty – the budding of a flower – the video gradually becomes more and more oppressive. This is the image of a suffocating environment in which we constantly try to find solid ground.

John Smith (1952, Great Britain) is an avant-garde filmmaker who often uses humour to explore the conditioned assumptions of the film medium. In the 1970s Smith became involved in the activities of the London Filmmakers Co-op. Strongly influenced by conceptual art and the materialistic ideas that dominated the filmmaking of British artists at the time, but also fascinated by the compelling power of the story and the spoken word, Smith developed an oeuvre that transforms reality and exposes the language of cinema.