When the latest film from JF Salazar was described a s a “speculative documentary\,” it was hard to know what to expect…surely a documentary is based on fact? But through exploring what the current\, fac t-based\, and devastating extractive activities being perpetrated in the At acama Desert\, the weaving of the past\, present and future come together i n a compelling and moving film that causes the viewer to examine more concr etely where current practices might lead.
The film begins with a spec ulative future\; an astronaut landing on Mars in 2050 to establish a settle ment\, who at once challenges the perception that Mars is a lifeless planet \, describing it as “sentient.” Connections between the ways that different Indigenous peoples have similar relations with the solar system continue t hroughout the film\, featuring people from across the southern hemisphere. The voiceover connects Māori conceptions of family\, of connection\, of rel atives in the cosmos\, before landing in the Atacama Desert where a member of the Atacameño-Lickanantay people speaks about the “galactic river of anc estors” with her grandchildren\, and a Chilean geologist talks about the im portance of the Desert for studying cosmic activity. She poignantly describ es meteorites as “Rosetta stones” for understanding more about both the Ear th and the solar system\, an accurate but poetic way of conceiving these re lationships. We see ancient rock drawings of flamingos\, and farming practi ces that use ancestral innovations for conserving water where it is needed for agriculture. The priority for all of the Indigenous people featured is small impact\, care\, and respect for the ecosystems that surround and supp ort their ways of life\; under threat from the lithium mining expanding to provide much of the Western world with the minerals necessary for electrifi cation.
Much of the film identifies instances of colonialism\, both h istoric and present\, in how extractive activities have wreaked damage and destruction on the precious ecosystems of the Atacama Desert. Significant w ater sites are included -- rare in a Desert where some areas are so arid th ey have not seen water for millions of years -- as well as a bay once teemi ng with ocean life where the infrastructure for transporting lithium to shi ps is now polluted and dead. The film highlights how the costs of this extr action for a ‘sustainable’ transition falls on the Atacama Desert\, its peo ples and its wildlife. Further speculation connects harvesting soil from th e moon in 2032 with the activities on Earth\, identifying them as “zones of sacrifice\,” necessary for maintaining the progress of humanity\, but towa rds what? And at what cost?
One final metaphor to draw out here\, a r otifer zooplankton which exist in the Araucanian lakes of Southern Chile. T his tiny animal adapts its asexual reproductive cycle to changing condition s from pollution and climate change\, turning to sexual reproduction to pro duce eggs that can remain dormant for potentially hundreds or thousands of years until conditions are ideal again. The survival instinct of these micr oscopic creatures is miraculous\, provoking the audience to consider not on ly what our own survival methods might be\, but also what we are doing to t hese organisms to require them. As one of the participants describes “It’s not about studying\; It’s about relating.”
Thank you so much to Juan Francisco Salazar for such a thought-provoking\, important\, and beautiful film\, and for his considered answers in the Q&A that followed the screenin g. He closed with this sentiment: “I don’t pretend that the film will chang e anything but it can bring a spark of hope and bring people together.” The film has been screened at over 30 film festivals so far.
If you are looking to experience the film\, Juan shared the link to watch it here:
[buttons][button link_text="Watch the film" link_url="https://vimeo.com/ ondemand/cosmographies"][/buttons]
This event was supported b y UBC’s Centre for Climate Justice an the Pacific Institute for Climate Sol utions (PICS).
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