Being There is based on Jerzy Kosinski's novel of the same name and refers to the philosophical notion of Dasein, a concept forged by Martin Heidegger in his book Being and Time. Dasein is the condition of existence in our "average everydayness," but it also evokes an elusive, idealized state of consciousness akin to Plato's ideal form. Kosinski's anti-hero, Chance, played in the film by Peter Sellars, exhibits a pathology that resembles Asberger's syndrome. His innocence and unknowingness represent a kind of perceptual freedom which allows him to see beyond the delusive forms that mask everyday reality. Elements of the film will serve as a starting point for a discussion about the impairment of imaginative processes in the roundtable that follows the screening.