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I’ve been thinking furiously about the theme of artificial intelligence and what it might signify in this context. What form and dimension would it take in this film. I want to create a world, which allows the philosophical reflection of the following topics at the subconscious level: The concept of time, history, the future and hope. The pursuit of eternal life. The fear of death, and how it will come to seal the fate of mankind. The importance of language and dialogue in strengthening our existence. The importance of ritual.
The scientific credibility of the details of the work is in itself secondary, but at one time I was inspired by Yuval Noah Harari’s vision in the book Homo Deus: Wealthy and Privileged People heal themselves with artificial intelligence and biotechnology and become like God. Homo Sapiens as a species disappears. This cold outlook confirms the idea that has been gnawing me since I was a young girl. That all human action is ultimately based on avoiding the thought of death. Science, art, religion and philosophy are “projects of eternity” and their ultimate goal is to overcome death.
We are constantly rewriting history to serve our own purposes. We are also rushing towards the future as if the future is something concrete and self-evident. In fact, everything that is not “now” is,in the end, just a fantasy. As the Chinese man says in the W-script, ”All those imagined tomorrows.” The concept of the future is the result of relatively fresh Western thinking. It is strongly tied to hope, the fundamental pillar of Christian thought. Hope and the future are something we “must have”. To which we are entitled to. Without which there would be chaos, nihilism and perhaps even the destruction of our civilization.
Many would say that we are already swaying on the brink of our existence, so what have we done with hope and the future? Both hope and the future as concepts are based on the idea that somewhere, sometime, things are gonna get better, that somewhere, sometime life will be easier. We seem to forget that the future creates itself now and now and now. In the end, we have nothing but the present moment. Everything else is a dream.
Even today, a very small and extremely privileged group of people live, if not completely, then at least in part, in a different reality than the rest of us.They are already living in the future.They know that the future is being created NOW, and are therefore already at least a few leaps ahead of us.Technology giants have begun investing fortunes to overcome death. It may well be that in a hundred years, a very rich person will no longer have to die.
It is quite incomprehensible how man can coldly follow the destruction of his ecosystem and at the same time plan his immortality. It is so absurd that we have to come to this conclusion: Future has been turned into property that won’t be shared equally by all of us.
If transformation is the core of all life, what happens when death is removed from the equation?What will a man sacrifice to be able to live forever? How does a person who has lived for centuries think? How does she talk? Can she still feel, hope, love?
In film language I basically scorch moralization and “words of wisdom”. I would rather ask than offer answers. I reject a story if it means order and logic. I see reality as chaotic and broken, fragmented, ever-changing.
The raw material of the subconscious is the basis of my work. Working with a film is kind of a precursor for me. Free association creates a sense of surprise, excitement, danger, and a sense of the moment. It exposes me to the forces and influences that emerge during the creative process.
The work as a whole is an always pulsating weave and all its parts can be changeable right down to the final meters of making the film. The philosophical message of the work must be deep in the layers of the film: in its form, in its visuality, in its atmosphere. Words / dialogue are only portals. I look for impulses and navigate them. Acting must be based, at least in part, on improvisation, so that the boundary between the actor and the real person is blurred and the actor is able to get out of her/his comfort zone.
Some may think that this way of working is risky, and it might be so, if there isn’t adequate preparation beforehand. I think the scenes through second by second, I talk with the actors, I see them through the scenes giving exact instructions when filming, if necessary. I try to be in tune with the psyche of the actor as she/he creates the reality that will ultimately become the film.
I am particularly interested in the theme of ritual, of repetition as a source of security and significance. Despite whether repetition is followed by satisfaction or dissatisfaction, it creates a sense of slower passage of time. Repetition is a ritual that in our mind manages to keep death further away. That makes ritual a deeply spiritual function.
All the characters in the film are addicted to different kinds of repetition. My hypothesis, therefore, is: Eternal life does not protect them from death, because death is not the end of life. It is a dimension they fall into and come out of, forever.
My greatest inspiration for the film has been T.S Eliot’s poem Wasteland. Its structure is something I would like to transfer to my film. Eliot’s Wasteland is a weave, moving effortlessly in time. It is full of references that open up routes to new worlds. It’s deeply humane, even a little pathetic. It is devoid of climax, which is one of it’s best features. As you read the work, you feel as if you are moving in a stream that runs through our brief history: Was this all there ever was? Just echoes in eternity.