Belgium202174minColorDocumentary, Experimental12
The Siberian permafrost is melting. Ancient bones rise up from the ground and wild animals seem to have disappeared. Three Yakutians venture into the vast wilderness on different quests. Villager Roman and city boy Kyym hunt for a rare reindeer while not so far away, scientist Semyon scourges the permafrost for a viable cell of the mammoth, which he needs to clone the extinct animal. In the midst of an ongoing mass-extinction of fauna and flora, of a Siberian Ivory Rush, and at the dawn of de-extinction, a contemporary myth unfolds. HOLGUT boldly combines elements of fiction and documentary and manoeuvrers effortlessly from captivating reality to visual poetry. Down the mammoth-hole, science fiction seems to become reality and reality seems to become myth.
Liesbeth de Ceulaer is a Belgian independent filmmaker based in Brussels, whose films explore the tense and complex relationship between man and his environment. These cinematic explorations lead to captivating worlds, in which documentary and fiction are in continuous exchange. VICTORIA(2020), BEHIND THE REDWOOD CURTAIN(2013) and THE BEST ACT ON THE ISLE(2008) have been presented and awarded at film festivals such as Berlinale, Docville, Visions du Réel and etc.
Directer Liesbeth De Ceulaer
Producer Minds Meet – Tomas Leyers
Cinematography Jonathan Wannyn
Editing Guillaume Graux
Sound Gert Verboven
Drawings, Graphic Design Maaike Beuten