El auge del humano 3

Auf drei Kontinenten mäandern scheinbar befreundete Charaktere in losen Szenen durch das Zwielicht von Städten und Landschaften, von der ambulanten Fischaugenoptik in ultralangen Plansequenzen mehr begleitet denn verfolgt – wie aus der Cloud eines anfallartig in 3D träumenden Smartphones abgerufen. Ein neuartiger filmischer Weltzugang zwischen Kamera, Menschen und Räumen. Williams, der von sich sagt, dass Online-Chats lange seine einzige Form der Kommunikation waren, wünscht sich, dass man dem babylonischen Sprachgewirr seiner postnarrativen Embleme auch ohne die bereitgestellten Untertitel folgen kann – dies jedoch dürfte nur den Wenigsten gelingen. (Stephan Settele)

In Anwesenheit von Eduardo Williams.

Eduardo Williams’ second feature reprises the global scope and desultory wanderings of his celebrated debut EL AUGE DEL HUMANO. Whereas that film crafted a parable of digital (dis)connection and exhaustion by moving sequentially through three image formats and countries, this one explores similar themes through a radically new form. Set in Peru, Sri Lanka and Taiwan, it follows a group of young people as they hang out and chat across these three locations. Despite the naturalism of its nonprofessional performers, the film’s treatment of its multilingual dialogue—littered with non-sequiturs and looping repetitions—underlines that it is no documentary. After shooting with a 360-degree camera, Williams selected his desired framing by viewing the footage through a virtual-reality headset, such that the result indexes his gaze while remaining emphatically machinic. Images bend and glitch; time and space morph and melt. The peculiar cinematography transcends any gimmickry, as Williams stitches together his disparate locations into a single fabric of disafection and dream, at once intimately familiar and profoundly alien. A poetic reflection on technology and experience, EL AUGE DEL HUMANO 3 is a world picture of and for our beleaguered times. (Erika Balsom)

In the presence of Eduardo Williams.

Eduardo Williams: PUDE VER UN PUMA (2011, K), QUE JE TOMBE TOUT LE TEMPS? (2013, K), TÔI QUÊN RÔI! (2014, K), EL AUGE DEL HUMANO (2016), PARSI (2018, K), UN GIF LARGUÍSIMO (2022, K)