Combining diaristic film footage of society/nature with 3D scanner images, Czech filmmaker Viera Čákanyová playfully and provocatively explores the potential of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence to deal with complex global problems. Notes from Eremocene (Poznámky z Eremocénu) world-premieres in Berlinale Forum.
From climate change and human interactions through to footage of nature and the crisis of representative democracy, the film presents Super-8 and 16mm footage alongside manipulated graphics, as well as coloured pixels often driven by a conversation between the filmmaker and an AI-created voice.
At the heart of the film is the notion of Eremocene – meaning the age of loneliness – and how this is represented by natural destruction, global loss of biodiversity and the plain old-fashioned sense of humanity feeling more and more isolated and gripped by depression.
At one stage filmmaker Čákanyová explains ominously: “This is a film message recorded with the use of silver halide crystals that react to light and create a latent picture on nitrocellulose texture, done with the use of a device called a film camera. It is an analogue method, but anything digital is not in our control any more. This is a message about what happened to a species – Homo Sapiens – on planet Earth in the Solar System, Milky Way, Galaxy, around 13.8 billion years from the estimated date of the creation of the universe .”
The film – as much an art house installation piece as a formal piece of documentary work – veers between manipulated images of nature including deserts, spider webs and seascapes as well as footage of beach scenes, mask-wearing in public places, cheery Christmas lights and climate activists. It dwells on the notion that digital technologies have conquered the world and that the realm of data – from blockchain, to Bitcoin to DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) democracy – is now massive and out of control.
The soundtrack includes Nick Cave singing The Higgs Boson Blues and the Wood Kid track Boat Song, both of which align perfectly with the themes discussed. Quite often, the most intriguing scenes are the conversations between the AI-bot and the filmmaker. After one such exchange on the director’s own sense of loneliness, Čákanyová concludes: “I am no longer willing to take on the feelings of others or shoulder burdens that are not mine.”
There is a sense that the film perhaps has its origins in the period of COVID lockdown, reflecting some of the years dwelt upon, but at the same time there are moments of gentle amusement (especially via the wry English-language AI voice) as the themes veer from blockchain and digital technologies through the dreamlike landscapes, all driven by gentle musings about what the future might bring.
Slovak Republic-Czech Republic, 2023, 78mins
Dir: Viera Čákanyová
Production: GUČA films, Marina Films
International sales: Marina Films
Producer: Matej Sotnik
Screenplay: Viera Čákanyová, Klára Tasovsk
Cinematography: Viera Čákanyová
Editors: Viera Čákanyová, Alexandra Gojdičová
