Docs+Science

6 films
Utopia is a word that encompasses the echoes of betrayed revolutions and millions of biographies that were trampled upon. When transcribed in the language of an ideology, it flutters over the killing fields and extermination camps. It is synonymous with the state of ubiquitous justice, which is unattainable as proven by the experiences of the 20th century. This year’s Docs+Science section explores the territory of a slightly different utopia – an ‘island where all becomes clear’ as defined by Wisława Szymborska. On it, over the Lake of Deep Conviction, in the Valley of Obviously, there grows the Tree of Understanding. This ontological island is the embodiment of the Theory of Everything. Nevertheless, for all its charms, it remains uninhabited as the poet claims. Why? Has it already been abandoned by all explorers? Or, maybe, no one has reached it yet? The films presented in this section will address such questions. The variety of answers they offer may not always be direct, but they will not leave you cold.

  • A Compassionate Spy (Szpieg, który współczuł)

    dir. Steve James
    dok2022

    Ted Hall did not partake in the joy of other scientists participating in the Manhattan Project. He was not delighted to see the artificial Sun burning over the New Mexican desert. He was concerned about the American monopoly on such a powerful weapon as a nuclear bomb. He thought the world would be safer if he shared what he knew with Russians. He was a fool, madman and enemy of the state. People spoke about him. His daughter refers to him as a designer of a better world. For Hall, compassion for humanity signified an ethically ambiguous act of rebellion.

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    film still A Compassionate Spy
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  • Budding Humans

    dir. Gunhild Westhagen Magnor
    dok2022

    Balder and Haakon arrived at our planet just two years ago. They find it difficult to move around it. The social norms applied are not clear for them and the place has been beset by waves of emotions which are hard to express. These two creatures have a long way to go. A Norwegian documentarian spent one year observing them.

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    film still Budding Humans
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  • Dead Birds Flying High (Die toten Vögel sind oben)

    dir. Sönje Storm
    dok2022

    A story of birds, butterflies, fungi, moss and people. All these creatures, both dead and alive, were photographed by Jürgen F. Mahrt (1882–1940) with the same degree of attention. The former were captured for eternity, while the latter were depicted motionless but as if in a death-defying manner. The photographer was possessed by an obsession to act against the chaos of wars and the disaster of an abruptly changing landscape.

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    film still Dead Birds Flying High
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  • Here Lions Once Roared (Ici rugissaient les lions)

    dir. Jean-Baptiste Bonnet, Laurine Estrade
    dok2022

    Everywhere where human and non-human lives met, the reality needed to become the subject of never-ending negotiations. The vectors of interests pointed to very different directions. With an anthropological insight, French documentarians capture the reconstruction of events from almost half a million years ago being acted out over a river near Tautavel.

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    film still Here Lions Once Roared
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  • Infinity. The Universe of Luigi Ghirri (Infinito. L'universo di Luigi Ghirri)

    dir. Matteo Parsini
    dok2022

    In this poetic portrayal of Luigi Ghirri (1943–1992), a master of contemporary photography, the director gives voice and, in particular the image, to the protagonist. The photographer takes the audience on a tour of the outskirts of daily life as seen from the corner of his eye, the area in between what is artificial and authentic or grand and small – the meso-scale.

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    film still Infinity. The Universe of Luigi Ghirri
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  • The Natural History of Destruction

    dir. Sergei Loznitsa
    dok2022

    European cities as seen from the boards of aircraft during carpet-bombing made a stunningly beautiful picture which was horrifying in a primeval manner. These images of hell, like never before, were planned by the engineers of war with scientific precision. To create the choreography of destruction, they employed the instruments of mathematics and physics.

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    film still The Natural History of Destruction
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