The birth of this project is due to the discovery of the Altiplano region in Chile. Symbol of isolation, doubled by the sublime landscape and the complex spiritual background, this region is the main character in the film. It represents a self-sufficient being, and the film is this being’s portrait. The surrealistic transformations become a logical extension of the magnificent strangeness of the landscapes. These places known for the absence of any form of life on huge distances undergo a symbolic metamorphosis that provides them an internal abstract form of life. It is a geographical, mineral, colossal kind of life, based on elements which are extremely inhospitable to biological existence.

The choice of this location is essential: the region surrounding the village of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile is a unique source of landscapes, both majestic and strange, on the edge of visual abstraction.

But these sublime landscapes keep traces of a dark past: areas covered with landmines and ancient political prisons in the middle of the driest desert in the world. These hidden dangers and gloomy places add a layer of anxiety : the environment is injured. The human element appears briefly in the video: we see the traces of human presence being erased by a devouring nature.

By the means of creating mental landscapes halfway between photographic research and experimental animation, this work depicts a dreamlike world, a vision hidden in a secret dimension of our reality. By mixing poetic observation of a unique place and subtle transformations of perception, this project attempts to reveal the symbolic power of geography and the slightly visible, but destructive, impact of mankind.

By the means of a very direct approach of primordial elements: sun, earth (mountains and desert), water (high altitude lakes) and mineral (salt) I want to build my film on a basis of high visual and symbolic purity. The data is further processed and modified to depict a strange lifeform within the image: levitation, breathing earth, impossible water movements, scars and injuries of a giant being … The landscape creates a subtle and enigmatic choreography, it quietly communicates and becomes an autonomous entity. I want to transform into images the language of nature, of the infinite spaces of the desert and the Andes:  they speak using the shape of mountains, the form of the clouds, waves, eruptions, sand movements …

CENTIPEDE SUN from mihaigrecu on Vimeo.