In the future they ate from the finest porcelain (PS/DK/GB 2016, Larissa Sansour / Søren Lind)

IN THE FUTURE THEY ATE FROM THE FINEST PORCELAIN

PS/DK/GB 2016, D: Larissa Sansour/Søren Lind,feat. Pooneh Hajimohammadi, Anna Aldridge, Leyla Ertosun, Larissa Sansour, 29’, OV/English subtitles

The film relates – as implied by the temporal twist in its title – the story of an intervention into the prospective perception of a territory’s political history. A self-proclaimed “narrative resistance group” buries finest porcelain which originates from an entirely contrived civilization. The group’s objective is to interfere with history and to assert claims on their vanishing territories in the time to come. When the porcelain is excavated again, it will prove the existence of a fictitious people. Creating an independent myth, the work of the group becomes a historical intervention which de facto creates a nation. In form of a fictional video essay, moving images are combined with computer-generated ones, archaeological and political aspects are entangled with science fiction contents. Staged as a voice-over conversation between a psychologist and the group’s leader and being about myths and fiction as constituent elements of facts, history and the documentary, the dialogue reveals the philosophy behind the actions of the group.