Ancestral Clouds Ancestral Claims
Post-show Q&A with filmmakers Denise Ferreira da Silva and Arjuna Neuman!
Ancestral Clouds Ancestral Claims (2023) is an experimental film essay shot in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Because of the extreme aridity and elevation of the terrain, the skies above the desert are completely clear, allowing for an unobstructed view of the stars. Scattered across the land are powerful telescopes, through which scientists gaze into the deep time of the cosmos, while the surrounding desert freezes history. Today you can find prehistoric stone drawings there, but also labor camps from colonial times, later reactivated during Augusto Pinochet’s authoritarian military dictatorship (1973–90) to exploit opponents of the regime—stories of violence that remain hidden in plain sight. The artists ask how there can be such clarity and obscurity at the same time.
Location:
Humanities Quadrangle (HQ) - Alice Cinema (L01)