Future Ecologies 2 - Fantasy Islands

The films in the second programme let the imagination run free, looking ahead to the future, but also back in time, and within. These are true and less true stories, about the Brazilian military’s search for an imaginary island, new worlds to be discovered in whale bodies or the jungles of Borneo, mythical creatures that arise in our wake and curious landscape phenomena. These are films that offer new ways of looking at our place in the world and our possible futures.

Curator: Christoffer Ode

Read more about the programme – Future Ecologies Introduction.

Screened:
WED 25/10, 21:00 REGINA
SUN 29/10, 15:00 FYRIS

DEEP IN THE EYE AND THE BELLY

This work entwines stories of cetacean bodies with imagined oceanic futures, in which these bodies become shelters for humans who have returned to the oceans in the wake of climate collapse. It details stories of the de- and reconstruction of whale bodies housed in museums and hints at a crossing into a possible future where whale bodies become new worlds.

United Kingdom 2023 / 23:00 / Director: Sam Williams

THE SECOND LIFE OF BURNED TREES

Thousands of centenarian olive trees were burned during the 2022 summer wildfires in Greece. These trees have lived through centuries, and now their carcasses form ghostly figures; the locals refer to them as mythological creatures.

Austria 2023 / 6:15 / Director: Anna Vasof

VISION OF PARADISE

The film follows the voyage of the Brazilian Military in search of an imaginary island with the same name as their country. Amidst the real, simulated, and imagined, the film analyses the human capacity to expand the frontiers of the physical world into a “New World”.

Brazil, United Kingdom, United States 2022 / 16:00 / Director: Leonardo Pirondi

REHOUSING TECHNOSPHERE

This animated film takes place on Earth in a distant future. It offers glimpses into how life forms adapt to a new planetary ecology. Playing with the tone of a nature documentary, this film shows us that among the remnants of the Anthropocene, life moves.

Denmark 2022 / 5:41 / Director: Wang & Söderström

MEN OF THE NIGHT

At night and in the darkness of day, an explorer makes his way through the jungle of Borneo in search of orangutans.

France 2022 / 16:14 / Director: Judith Auffray

FAREWELL RECORDING FOR AN OBSERVER OF AN UNKNOWN TIME AND PLACE

Part speculative history of the future, part worldbuilding rendering, ‘Farewell recording for an observer of an unknown time and place’ is an essayistic digression on capitalism, environment, technology and death. Central to the work is Invasive Landscape Phenomenon, a mysterious, fast spreading malady. Reminiscent of dissociative trauma response, this affliction emerges in a world on the verge of ecological collapse, in which first-hand experience is replaced by a mediated alternative to physical presence.

Germany 2023 / 25:54 / Director: Rita Macedo