SCREENING IN THE BERNARD OSHER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM
“[I]n his attempt to imagine why, and how, we try to preserve memories, Cheney unearths something beautiful.”
98 minutes (plus Q&A). Not Rated. Directed by Ian Cheney. In English. DCP.
NOTE: Director Ian Cheney will discuss the film after this screening.
The Arc of Oblivion explores a quirk of humankind: in a universe that erases its tracks, we humans are hellbent on leaving a trace.
Set against the backdrop of the filmmaker’s quixotic quest to build an ark in a field in Maine, the film heads far afield – to salt mines in the Alps, fjords in the Arctic, and ancient libraries in the Sahara – to illuminate the strange world of archives, record-keeping, and memory.
Playfully weaving stop-motion animation, spellbinding cinematography, and fascinating interviews from the director’s inner circle and experts in the field of science, culture and art – including documentarians Werner Herzog and Kirsten Johnson – Ian Cheney’s The Arc of Oblivion reveals how nature inspires the human drive behind filmmaking.