Promo Trailer for ‘Fantastic Machine’ Doc About the Camera + Humans
by Alex Billington
February 24, 2023
Source: YouTube
“That’s what entertainment’s supposed to do!” Keep our minds off of how bad things are. An early promo trailer is available for a documentary film playing on the festival circuit titled Fantastic Machine, made by two Swedish filmmakers – Axel Danielson and Maximilien van Aertryck. The full title is actually And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine, which is a reference to an old quote that appears in the film. A visually exuberant documentary that uses powerful collages edited out of archive footage, home videos, live-streaming material and private documentation to offer a glimpse at what (or who) is at work when an image of our reality is arranged. Similar in many ways to Sundance 2021’s doc All Light, Everywhere. This film is an examination of the history of the camera, taking us through time up to the current day, showing how bad everything has become thanks to manipulation and how this is leading us right to a dangerous degradation of society and humanity as we know it. It’s a smart film that lets all the footage speak for itself, I just hope it connects with & shakes some people awake from their obsession with social media videos. Get a look below.
First festival trailer for Danielson & Van Aertryck’s doc Fantastic Machine, direct from YouTube:
From Berlinale: “And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine is a plunge into the vast historic ocean of media culture. From the birth of the camera obscura to the screening of the first moving picture and from the invention of the webcam to the first viral video, the witty and thought-provoking documentary chases the rise of image culture as we know it. By collaging historic archive material of great dictators parading in front of cheering crowds with home videos, live-streaming content & clips of thrill-seekers hanging out at the top of a skyscraper, or harrowing press footage of violence, it offers an emblematic study of cinema and the social history it creates: What are the implications of being exposed to the billions of images competing for our attention?” Fantastic Machine is directed and produced by Swedish filmmakers Axel Danielson (Twin Brothers: 53 Scenes in Chronological Order) & Maximilien Van Aertryck (Second Deputy Speaker, Matrimania, Extramaterial, Ten Meter Tower). It first premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and it also just played at Berlinale. No release dates are setup yet – stay tuned.
