Surround
Ewa Górzna, Katarzyna Miron, Finland 2023
no dialogue

Surround is a short film reflecting on the relationship between humans and nature and our coexistence with other species. It combines nature documentary footage with expanded narrative soundscapes where various sonic stories intertwine and resonate, revealing the off-screen events happening around the non-human protagonists.

Production notes

All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars
Jennifer Rainsford is a Swedish director and artist, whose first full-length film begins by documenting people whose lives were derailed by the tsunami that hit the coast of Japan in 2011. Everyone has lost someone dear to them, and all are still grieving with their sorrows and trauma.

The initial setting would have already contained the ingredients for an interesting documentary. However, All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars reaches further by expanding into a study of how small we are in comparison to the forces of nature. Filmed in Japan and Hawaii, the film illuminates the unpredictable and fragile marine nature, where we are just visitors among countless creatures, from microscopic plankton to captivating plants and fishes. We are also the only species whose trash travels from the coast of Japan to the Hawaiian Islands, in a moment in history where climate change threatens to throw whole ecosystems out of whack. Yet, instead of wallowing in depression, the film emphasizes the importance of preserving the beautiful underwater life. “All our breaths are connected,” as the film argues.

The music of Italian Teho Teardo creates a magical companion for the underwater sequences, which take the viewer on a journey to the depths of the sea and the human mind.

Matti Ylönen