The project was primarily an opportunity to develop a subject I had been interested in for a very long time, into a coherent process and to interpret it in the realm of moving images in the form of a film. I consider this project, my first step in the direction of perfecting the craft.
The film visualises a world in three time zones: ‘Future, Nostalgia’ and an abstract, unclear period in-between known as ‘Apocalypse.’ It speaks of a world which is so super-sophisticated as to render technology totally invisible. Due to this, the appearance of the environment and the practices, seem to belong to ancient times.
This is the story of a man who has found himself stuck in a village in the future, without any knowledge of his whereabouts. An apotropaic puppet, which protects the village, captures a part of his soul as he enters it. This makes him schizophrenic. He slowly starts getting strange visions - mysterious sounds and visuals of unknown places and cultures, interpreted as ‘Nostalgia.’
One such vision of ‘Nostalgia’ consists of shots of malls, cars and highways-- a sensation that something dark and ominous is on the way-- and visuals of people dressed in animal costumes. This sequence tries to extract a mood that hints at an approaching disaster in a post-industrial environment, which is the ‘Apocalypse;’ the protagonist himself being a survivor of this unknown disaster. Slowly, he realises that these are the dreams of the puppet flowing through him. These powerful dreams torment him and he is confused.
Then, the film disappears. Just like the technology in the ‘Future’ is invisible, the film also ceases to be visible after this point. Working on this project made me realize that film-making is an immediate product of a particular context, space and time.
