The empty sphere and Ecdysis

The Empty Circle, Stéphanie Roland

Typically, a science fiction hero sets off for somewhere else—another planet, a different solar system—moving away from Earth for any number of reasons. Here, we also explore unknown lands, but the movement is reversed: the space object returns to Earth, plunges into the water, and reaches the planet's core.  

In the same way, I wanted to embark on a journey into the materiality of cinema.  
We start with contemporary 4K digital cinema, typical of sci-fi films, and then move back toward archival footage—both real and fictional—shot on film. The abstract images were created using a homemade camera that blends the properties of a sonar device with an instrument used to analyze exoplanets, bridging the gap between the ocean and space.

The vast majority of sci-fi protagonists are white Western men between the ages of 30 and 50. It is important to me that the only character here is a female scientist in her fifties, a demographic that is underrepresented in both the scientific field and in cinematic representation in general.

Ecdysis, Laura Colmenares Guerra & Jana Irmert

Ecdysis is the natural process by which reptiles and insects molt, shedding their old skin or exoskeleton multiple times throughout their life cycle. In this animated piece, a slowly moving camera snakes through a 3D reproduction of the Amazon rainforest's topography, creating an abstract fluidity that evokes both a profound sense of vastness and a striking resemblance to the texture of animal skin.

Upon closer inspection, the subtleties of the Amazon Basin's topography reveal an uncanny resemblance to the skin of a colossal living creature. Indeed, with its rich diversity of river ecosystems and tropical forests, the Amazon can be viewed as a vast, interconnected organism.

The animation was developed from a 3D reproduction of the Amazon Basin's topography, created as part of the Ríos Trilogy project.

The sound composition was created entirely from field recordings captured in the Amazon using hydrophones and ultrasonic recorders. Through various processing methods, sound elements are extracted from the dense jungle environments and transformed into melodic formations and rhythmic patterns.