The Phantom Menace
Compiling stories from the recent past of interaction with cosmic radiation at ever descending altitudes, The Phantom Menace is a techno driven stroboscopic climate fiction film written in conversation with Amazon warehouse workers. Initially inspired by the plans of the US government to install their fragile predictive supercomputers deep underground to protect them from these upcoming ancient alien invaders, the film uses once costly low-resolution scientific visualizations produced on these supercomputers to speculate on the role of labor in the subterranean near future. Planes crashing, computers malfunctioning, and elections going haywire – these were just the prequel to the future.
Crew
Written and Directed by | Graeme Arnfield |
Producer | Graeme Arnfield |
Produced by
Graeme Arnfield
Graeme Arnfield
Graeme Arnfield, born in 1991 in the UK, is an artist, filmmaker, and curator living in London. He graduated with a Masters in Experimental Cinema at Kingston University. Producing sensory essay films from found, often viscerally embodied networked imagery, his films use methods of investigative storytelling to explore issues of circulation, spectatorship, and history. Research topics have included: the politics of digital networks, the material distribution of ecological matter, and the adaptive capacities of global and local histories. His work has been screened in different film festivals around the world. His short film Asbestos (with Sasha Litvintseva, 2016) was part of the 2017 Forum Expanded program.
Filmography
2014 I'm Sorry I Have to Run; 16 min. · I'm Sorry I Have to Run; 16 min. · I'm Sorry I Have to Run; 16 min. 2015 Sitting in Darkness; 15 min. · Sitting in Darkness; 15 min. · Sitting in Darkness; 15 min. 2016 Colossal Cave; 11 min. · Colossal Cave; 11 min. · Colossal Cave; 10 min. · Asbestos; with Sasha Litvintseva, 19 min., Forum Expanded 2017 · Asbestos · Asbestos; with Sasha Litvintseva, 19 min., Forum Expanded 2017 2017 Shouting at the Ground; 17 min. · Shouting at the Ground; 17 min. 2018 Pedigree; 21 min. · Pedigree; 21 min. 2019 The Phantom Menace; 36 min. · The Phantom Menace; 36 min., Forum Expanded 2020 2021 Pervading Animal; 31 min. 2022 Home Invasion
Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023