Ars Electronica 2006, Dani Muek
Albert Arizza's short film "ENERGY HUNTER" is a fresh and clear reminder short films are neither a minor genre nor a field of training for future filmmakers, but rather a space where a complete and full work of art can be achieved in a few minutes of length. And this is exactly the time (seven minutes) Arriza needs to submerge us in a probable and catastrophic future in which the human race is a stranger to mother earth. A stranger whose only and last umbilical cord left to his mother is the need for energy. With this premise Arizza takes us to a backward journey- as opposed to the outward conquest of the universe. The return to a desolated planet superbly represented by arid deserts and iced mountains where only the most resistant species can survive. Arriza's narrative is fluid, coherent and most important of all simple; free from any kind of artificial use of film technique, as a matter of fact his proposal is so straight forward Arizza does not need dialogue. He relies on a very efficient soundtrack by Pink Floyd.
Nevertheless, what's most remarkable about Arizza's work is how it functions on the metaphoric and symbolic level. The journey Arizza's characters depart in search for energy serves as a beautiful metaphor for the ancestral search for energy of human kind; from the discover of fire to the unravelling of the atomic power men have always been on the look out for more powerful sources of energy. Energy that would enable us to a better technology- the technology needed to tame the earth. The short film engages that problematic without any complex, it shows us what that hunt for energy has brought to nature and subsequently to our earth and our life as human beings. Paradoxically enough, the ultimate source, for that always necessary energy, seems to be an ecological one. This paradox may explain the main symbology of the short film, Arriza seems to suggest that even if an ultimate source of energy could be obtained the process would utterly bring as a dramatic outcome the destruction of the planet. And maybe because of that, this young film maker presents a quixotic symbology with clear references to Cervantes' universe; his characters are what the Spanish writer would have brought to life should he had written a science fiction version of his legendary novel. So are too some winks like the scene on the windmill. Here Arizza seems to imply the race for that ultimate energy is nothing more than a chimera; just giants on the horizon. There is no doubt we should keep a close eye on this young director for future works.
Albert Arizza's short film "ENERGY HUNTER" is a fresh and clear reminder short films are neither a minor genre nor a field of training for future filmmakers, but rather a space where a complete and full work of art can be achieved in a few minutes of length. And this is exactly the time (seven minutes) Arriza needs to submerge us in a probable and catastrophic future in which the human race is a stranger to mother earth. A stranger whose only and last umbilical cord left to his mother is the need for energy. With this premise Arizza takes us to a backward journey- as opposed to the outward conquest of the universe. The return to a desolated planet superbly represented by arid deserts and iced mountains where only the most resistant species can survive. Arriza's narrative is fluid, coherent and most important of all simple; free from any kind of artificial use of film technique, as a matter of fact his proposal is so straight forward Arizza does not need dialogue. He relies on a very efficient soundtrack by Pink Floyd.
Nevertheless, what's most remarkable about Arizza's work is how it functions on the metaphoric and symbolic level. The journey Arizza's characters depart in search for energy serves as a beautiful metaphor for the ancestral search for energy of human kind; from the discover of fire to the unravelling of the atomic power men have always been on the look out for more powerful sources of energy. Energy that would enable us to a better technology- the technology needed to tame the earth. The short film engages that problematic without any complex, it shows us what that hunt for energy has brought to nature and subsequently to our earth and our life as human beings. Paradoxically enough, the ultimate source, for that always necessary energy, seems to be an ecological one. This paradox may explain the main symbology of the short film, Arriza seems to suggest that even if an ultimate source of energy could be obtained the process would utterly bring as a dramatic outcome the destruction of the planet. And maybe because of that, this young film maker presents a quixotic symbology with clear references to Cervantes' universe; his characters are what the Spanish writer would have brought to life should he had written a science fiction version of his legendary novel. So are too some winks like the scene on the windmill. Here Arizza seems to imply the race for that ultimate energy is nothing more than a chimera; just giants on the horizon. There is no doubt we should keep a close eye on this young director for future works.