In the middle of a forest in the Eastern Himalayas during a new Moon, an ecological research team sets up a lighted canvas in the middle of the night. Soon after, moths start to swarm the canvas and the researchers can get to work.
Starting from these researchers and the moths (hawk moths, to be more specific) they observe, directors Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta build a multi-layered meditation on the overlapping existences occurring on this planet. Instead of presenting a traditional nature documentary, which one might expect from a topic like this, this instead feels like a film that decenters human interpretation or narrative aspect. Instead it presents a more open portrayal of hawk moths, this forest and the people who pass through it from a wider point of view.
All of this is tied together by the formal beauty of the film. The cinematography is rich and stunning and the images of the hawk moths swarming around the canvas often have a hypnotic beauty to them. The meticulous soundscape creates a sense of an entire world occurring in this forest around these people.
Pyry Silomaa
In the middle of a forest in the Eastern Himalayas during a new Moon, an ecological research team sets up a lighted canvas in the middle of the night. Soon after, moths start to swarm the canvas and the researchers can get to work.
Starting from these researchers and the moths (hawk moths, to be more specific) they observe, directors Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta build a multi-layered meditation on the overlapping existences occurring on this planet. Instead of presenting a traditional nature documentary, which one might expect from a topic like this, this instead feels like a film that decenters human interpretation or narrative aspect. Instead it presents a more open portrayal of hawk moths, this forest and the people who pass through it from a wider point of view.
All of this is tied together by the formal beauty of the film. The cinematography is rich and stunning and the images of the hawk moths swarming around the canvas often have a hypnotic beauty to them. The meticulous soundscape creates a sense of an entire world occurring in this forest around these people.
Pyry Silomaa
Starting from these researchers and the moths (hawk moths, to be more specific) they observe, directors Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta build a multi-layered meditation on the overlapping existences occurring on this planet. Instead of presenting a traditional nature documentary, which one might expect from a topic like this, this instead feels like a film that decenters human interpretation or narrative aspect. Instead it presents a more open portrayal of hawk moths, this forest and the people who pass through it from a wider point of view.
All of this is tied together by the formal beauty of the film. The cinematography is rich and stunning and the images of the hawk moths swarming around the canvas often have a hypnotic beauty to them. The meticulous soundscape creates a sense of an entire world occurring in this forest around these people.
Pyry Silomaa
Info
Rating
-
Production year
2024
Global distributor
Metamorphosis Film Junction
Local distributor
DocPoint Tallinn MTÜ
In cinema
2/8/2025