20-22 OMEGA (International)

2O-22 OMEGA (2018, 111min) is a film reprising to the tenets of the classical form of symphony cinema to tell an allegorical story about future humanity. Inspired by past generations, I made this film thinking of future generations: how will they remember us in 25, 50 or 100 years; these controversial modern times; the humanity shaped in the capitalist world which is still forging that of tomorrow, in the Anthropocene; a humanity intimately linked with technology for development and at odds with nature, while dominating all other Earth species.

With this film, I wished to tell this story of “Posthumanism” using a universal narrative approach that is non-verbal and purely visual and musical, reminiscent of the classical "film symphony" form and genre practiced by our predecessor filmmakers almost a century ago, knowing that this kind of filmmaking practice is not only rare if not near forgotten today but likely to disappear completely in this 21st century.

As a new film symphony, 20-22 OMEGA is therefore a postmodern-take on the Avantgarde documentary movement of the 20s which brought us “City Symphony films” such as Man With A Movie Camera (1929) by Vertov and Berlin Symphony of a Great City (1927) by Ruttmann, for their filmmakers also sought out to capture the lives, activities, environments and development of their epoch through the poetic language of cinema. However as Fabrice Montal, the programmer and curator of the Cinematheque Quebecoise, has described my film, 20-22 OMEGA is rather a “Civilisation Symphony film” for the topics which it explores go beyond the city. My choice to shoot in black and white celluloid film — a medium to also likely disappear in the 21st century with the ongoing proliferation and perfection of the digital — is not just for poetic reasons. On the contrary, as I sought to document and depict the world of future humanism i.e. posthumanism through the medium of black and white motion film photography, it brings to the story qualities of timelessness and nostalgia as well as it invites reflecting upon, or even, imagining of the past, all while the film delivers a vision of the future present; thus creating a time-image contextual juxtaposition.

Further, the choice for the speechless and purely visual storytelling approach is for the following good reason: It was first inspired by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein ‘s theory about “Linguistic Determinism” which argues that we inherently understand our world through the language we speak, and he adds, “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world". Using this speech-free storytelling approach allows the film to transcend language barriers and limitations; hence in 20-22 OMEGA, its compelling B&W images tell the story from shot to shot and its opera-esque soundtrack of organ and choral voices as well as the throat songs and Sanskrit mantra at the end stand in for speech.

Shot exclusively on KODAK celluloid film with the classic motion picture camera BOLEX H16 REX5 over 5 years across 100 locations, with a soundtrack composed for and mixed in 5.1. surround sound, 20-22 OMEGA is designed as a true symphony film for the theatrical experience. My hopes for 20-22 OMEGA — given its sequel 21-22 will be a 360VR film made for the VR helmets only — are that the audience is able to discover this film the way it was made, for its theatrical experience, and that the young and future generations (re)discover cinema in its “classical symphonic” form as they experience a brand new film symphony made in the 21st century which looks profoundly at the posthumanism emerging in the Anthropocene, epoch of the New Humans.