2017

Contact: mmesquirol@gmail.com

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A Planet Painted by Hand

Mars is simulated here, in the quiet desert of the American Southwest. Scientists follow protocols, record data, and live by schedules—and yet, in the pauses, the ordinary becomes strange. ‘A Planet Painted by Hand’ eavesdrops on these moments, asking how humans imagine life on a world they have never touched.

GRANTS AND SUPPORT
Cultures d’Avenir 2024 Production Grant.
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.
Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin, Germany.
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), Barcelona, Spain.
Office franco-allemand pour la Jeunesse (OFAJ), France.
Production support, “la Caixa” Foundation, Spain.

LONG SYNOPSIS:
Through an artistic exploration of sites where the possibility of human life on other planets is studied, filmmaker Martí Madaula Esquirol (The Living Wardrobe, VdR 2024) begins a correspondence with Núria Jar, a Catalan scientist on a mission at the Mars Desert Research Station. Located in the southwestern desert of the United States, it simulates the colonisation of Mars. From there, she sends him round, porthole-shaped views taken from the centre’s windows, revealing desert landscapes, arid terrain, ochre rocks and a complete absence of vegetation. People clad in astronaut suits pass by. The off-screen voices talk about dairy intolerance or hair washing. The clatter of cutlery suggests that a table is being set. Everyday life here plays out like a weird science fiction. Between the film project and the documented mission runs the thread of a “planet painted by hand” that explores our capacity to use images to spark our imagination and dream of other possible worlds, in contrast to the extractive projects usually associated with space conquest.

Mourad-Anis Moussa