Homo Sapiens Project 201
Director: Rouzbeh Rashidi · Year: 2002–2021 · Production: Experimental Film Society
Synopsis
In 2021, I reached a milestone with the completion of the Homo Sapiens Project (201) – an integral part of re-envisioning and restructuring my entire filmography. This project is a colossal, nineteen-hour experimental feature woven from numerous films I produced from 2002 to 2014. Each feature was an exploratory endeavour, a test or a trial experiment.
The films were assembled from diverse sources, including footage I had amassed over the years, archival footage, found footage and rushes generously contributed by my close collaborators. More specifically, there was no premeditated plan for any of these films. Instead, each work was a spontaneous response to an existential impulse. In retrospect, I realized that these films were primarily an extreme, extended formalistic exercise that gradually evolved into a means of making sense of my life as an artist and an immigrant.
I must underscore that this project is not a new film. Instead, it is a work that has been rehabilitated, revitalized, and resurrected from obscurity. It's as if the film, with my assistance, restored itself to total health and vibrancy through discipline and healing after a long period of metaphorical imprisonment, addiction, or illness. The healing process necessitated the unification of these works into one cohesive body and nervous system. Hence, the Homo Sapiens Project became the ultimate catharsis for these films.