28th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival

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Dead Slow Ahead
Dead Slow Ahead
Dead Slow Ahead
Dead Slow Ahead
Dead Slow Ahead

Dead Slow Ahead

director: Mauro Herce
original title: Dead Slow Ahead
country: Spain, France
year: 2015
running time: 74 min.

synopsis

A freighter sails through a barren seascape. Apparently drifting aimlessly. Apparently? A highly enigmatic allegory of the isolation of man and machine in a post-industrial capitalist society, which is as close to techno-pessimistic sci-fi as it is to romantic painting. This story, consisting almost exclusively of the landscape, the movements of workers and machinery, and the ship itself, uses a highly aesthetic style to put across the impression of absolute desolation and disconcertion. The sedative rhythm pulls the viewer into a completely new, unknown world. Bit by bit we come to a realisation and start to ask: is this the last ship of humanity, burdened with the difficult task of keeping in motion that which has long stopped making sense?

DETAIL:
“Is anybody listening? An entire river is entering through the keel. There’s a lot. The water is reaching the storage tanks. Roger! Roger! Attention! The wheat is getting wet. The wheat. Sir, this is a disaster!”

biography

Mauro Herce graduated in mechanical engineering and creative arts in his native Spain but went on to study film in Cuba and in Paris. He has received recognition as a scriptwriter and as the cinematographer of, for example, the award-winning films The Path (2007) and Ocaso (2010). Dead Slow Ahead , his feature-length directorial debut, was introduced at this year’s Locarno Film Festival, where Herce received the Special Cine+ Jury Prize in the Filmmakers of the Present section.

more about film

director: Mauro Herce
producer: Sijercic Jasmina, Jose Alayon, Ventura Durall
photography: Mauro Herce
editing: Manuel Munoz
music: Jose Manuel Berenguer
sound: Alejandro Castillo, Carlos García, Daniel Fernandez
Ministerstvo kultury
Fond kinematografie
Creative Europe Media
Město Jihlava
Kraj Vysočina
GEMO
Česká televize
Český rozhlas
Aktuálně.cz
Respekt
Dafilms