An experimental, science fiction-meets-science fact meditation on the evolution and extinction of human life from the point of view of rocks. Preceded by short “That Day on the River”
Director: Deborah Stratman
Runtime: 50
Fest Year: 2023
Before we came to be, the universe was. After we’re gone, the universe will continue to exist, even thrive. This is hardly a sentiment to assuage the ego, but it’s the basis of the transfixing and transporting Last Things, the latest experimental cine-essay by acclaimed filmmaker and artist Deborah Stratman (director of T/F 2016’s The Illinois Parables). Starting with “the prehistory of prehistory” and moving through to the post-Anthropocene, the film synthesizes texts by pioneering speculative fiction author Clarice Lispector and other writers, archival images (with illustrations by Charles Darwin), testimonies by geo-scientists, a Brian Eno-inclusive soundtrack, plus often astonishing original footage shot by Stratman herself to create an associative and poetic ode to the geological, non-human forms that will outlive us. Rest assured, however; Stratman is no misanthrope: Last Things is also a wry, oddly moving valediction to humankind. (JA) Preceded by short “That Day on the River”