In May’s Cinema Sunset (May the 5th 2009) the video artist Roderick Hietbrink introduced a special programme of three films under the umbrella titel Modern Man and the Apocalypse. These films, which all depict the modern man in a confused state of mind, had made a deep impact on Hietbrink. After the screening, the public discussed connections between the three films.

La Jetée
Release: 1962
Runtime: 28 min.
Director: Chris Marker

Det Perfecte Menneske
Release: 1967
Runtime: 13 min.
Director: Jørgen Leth

Themroc
Release: 1973
Runtime: 141 min.
Directore: Claude Faraldo
Runtime total programme: 141 min

Synopsises
La Jetée
Set in the near future, the earth has barely survived an all-encompassing nuclear holocaust, which has driven the remnants of humanity underground. With minimal resources, scientists entombed beneath the ruins of Paris are searching for salvation through the single avenue left open; Time. They examine the possibilities of time travel, through the mind of a test subject, who is haunted by images from a childhood trauma. As a small boy he had witnessed the shooting of a man at an airport and found himself gazing into the entrancing face of a young woman. It is this single moment that will, the technicians hope, provide a connection across time for their time-traveller.

Det Perfekte Menneske
An elegant and humorous film in the guise of a serious anthropological treatise spotlights “The Perfect Human”, a model of the modern Dane created by our wishful thinking.

Themroc

An anarchistic portrait of a French bluecollar worker who can’t stand the daily grind any longer and decides to rebel against the modern society. Wrecking his apartment and transforming it into an urban cave he starts to act like a Neanderthal. This act of anarchy is catching on and soon his neighbours from across the street are doing the same. None of the characters speak in an understandable language, shouting and babbling instead. The society is depicted as dehumanising, monotonous and overbearing.