Shifting Baselines

The privatisation of the space race has seen progress by government agencies like NASA overtaken by the fast-tracked commercial ambitions of some controversial tech billionaires to explore and colonise our solar system. In the shadow of SpaceX’s south Texas Starbase launch site, Julien Elie’s freewheeling documentary, shot in gorgeous soft monochrome, investigates the economic and environmental repercussions of these largely unregulated endeavours. Interviewing a dizzying array of local residents, fishermen, conservationists and hardcore space nuts, opinions run the gamut from wide-eyed awe to practical concerns over local ecosystems, to more fanciful notions about the eventual repercussions of space travel and contact with other worlds.

Visions du Réel International Film Festival Nyon: In Competition