Private Project

20-22 OMEGA: 2021 EDITION

A non-verbal cinematic symphony about the humans of the Anthropocene. 20-22 is the prequel project to 21-22 the VR series project.

In 8 chapters, 20-22 OMEGA: 2021 EDITION invites us on a cinematic odyssey into the human civilization which engendered a new Earth epoch known as the Anthropocene.

Shot over 5 years across 100 locations, with an expansive and profound look at contemporary postmodern humanity, this film brings us compelling Black & White imagery revealing various human environments, activities, events and behaviors; all captured on celluloid film. In symphony with the cinematography, Cathedral organ music, choir songs and Inuit throat singing come together to create a hypnotic operatic soundtrack, standing in for speech.

This film reprises the Avantgarde "city symphony" cinema genre of the 1920s -- as an ode, a reference as well as a juxtaposition to the past -- and thus conjuring a postmodern cinematic symphony about the 21st century. Through the medium and language of nonverbal cinema (music and imagery), we are presented a meditative examination of the anthropocentric way of life full of crowds, machines, technology, production and abstraction.

20-22 OMEGA is a "true civilization symphony" as described by Fabrice Montal, programmer and curator of the Cinémathèque Québécoise, and a "stunning feature film translating the great art of the 1920’s “city symphonies” into our modern-day world" as described by the British Film Institute.

  • Thierry Loa
    Director
  • Thierry Loa
    Writer
  • Thierry Loa
    Producer
  • Forbes Campbell
    Producer
  • Ray Shine
    Picture Editing
  • Ida Toninato
    Music Composition
  • Philippe Le Bon
    Music Composition
  • Guillaume Martineau
    Music Composition
  • Thierry Loa
    Cinematography
  • Philippe Béland
    Music Editing and Arrangement
  • Ivaluarjuk Kathleen Merritt
    Inuit Throat Singing
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental
  • Genres:
    Visual anthropology, Ethnographic, Nonverbal documentary, Film symphony
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 5 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    May 31, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada, United States
  • Shooting Format:
    S16 MM
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • BFI Green Light exhibition: A focus on Climate Change
    London
    United Kingdom
    November 1, 2021
    World premiere
    Official Selection curated by the British Film Institute
  • RIDM
    Montreal
    Canada
    November 15, 2018
    Student/Youth Jury Best Film Award
  • Vision du Reel

    France
    April 22, 2019
  • Pleasure Dome: Composthumanism
    Toronto
    Canada
    December 7, 2019
Director Biography - Thierry Loa

Thierry Loa is a Montreal-based filmmaker and an intermedia artist. Having studied multimedia arts, philosophy, film studies and geography, he has been working in various visual and media disciplines, on a diverse and mixed array of projects such as narrative films, interactive cinema, video installations, new media design, and photography. In 2018, he completed his first feature film 20-22 OMEGA (111min) which explores the humanity emerging in the epoch of the Anthropocene. This film won the Prix du Jury Étudiant at the 21st RIDM film festival where it world-premiered. In 2021, the SERIES EDITION of 20-22 OMEGA was completed and is now available. He is currently working on the sequel project titled "21-22" -- a 360VR film bringing an immersive look at the state of humankind and nature around the planet. For more info, visit WWW.21-22.EARTH
His fields of interest and research include Art, Cinema, Literature, Anthropology, Sociology, Philosophy, Geography, Technology, and Media Theory.

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Director Statement

20-22 OMEGA could be described as "Man with a Movie Camera (1929)" meets "2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)".