Thursday, February 27 | 7:30 pm
A portrait of the Earth in the Anthropocene – at seven locations that humans have transformed on a grand scale: Entire mountains being moved in California, a tunnel being sliced through rock at the Brenner Pass, an open-cast mine in Hungary, a marble quarry in Italy, a copper mine in Spain, the salt mine used to store radioactive waste in Wolfenbüttel, Germany and a tar sands landscape in Canada. Initially shown from above as abstract paintings, these terrains are subsequently explored on the ground: the new film from acclaimed Austrian documentarian Nikolaus Geyrhalter (Homo Sapiens) weaves together observational footage of machines in operation with conversations with the workers. Alongside statements on work processes, environmental damage and technological change, Earth makes this constructed world visible in unique fashion by subtly paring it down: the piles of grey matter, hills and mountains. The blackness and the cracks. The sandy landscapes, criss-crossed by an array of mechanical devices that scuttle about like caterpillars. Equal parts awe-inspiring and troubling, Earth offers a life-size snapshot of the rapidly escalating struggle between man and nature, industry and ecology, progress and preservation.
Director Nikolaus Geyrhalter | 2019 | In English, German, Hungarian, Spanish and Italian with English subtitles | 115 minutes | NR | DCP
