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Sofie Benoot / Belgium, Netherlands / 2024 / Czech Premiere / 80 min.

synopsis

When documentary filmmaker Sophie Benoot had a kidney stone removed, she was astonished to discover that it contained a mineral found mainly in Antarctica. So she set out to find out how the foreign substance came to be in her body. It took the form of a playful polemic against the conventions of natural history documentaries. The narrator's voice, audible outside the picture, accompanies us during expeditions to different parts of the world, during which new layers of rocks and our history are uncovered. A wide-ranging reflection on the interconnectedness of the human and non-human shows that the ability to appreciate the wonders of the universe is perhaps more important than solving all mysteries.

“I thought portraying our relation with stone could be a way to address certain ecological questions. Stone symbolizes a certain tradition of relating to nature that I inherited as well, living in the European West.” — Sofie Benoot

biography

Sofie Benoot (1985) is a filmmaker living and working in Brussels. She makes collage-like films in which she often finds unexpected connections between the history of the landscape and the history of the human species. She is one of the directors of the documentary Victoria (2020), which was awarded at the Berlinale.