Terrence Malick is bringing to light consciousness of the universe and what it means to be a human being in the present moment in his latest production, Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey, produced by Dede Gardner, Nicolas Gonda, Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Sophokles Tasioulis, Brad Pitt and Grant Hill. Paul Atkins served as the Cinematographer with Dan Glass handling special effects. Keith Fraase and Rahman Ali provided editing. Cate Blanchett narrated.
Over two decades ago, Malick reached out to a Harvard Professor of Natural History and the author of Life On a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years and Biology: How LIfe Works, Andrew Knoll, and said he wanted to make a picture about natural history and the cosmos grounded in science. Malick had long been an admirer of natural history films drawing inspiration from earlier films such as Cheese Mites, a 1903 landmark film by British cinema pioneer Charles Urban and zoologist Francis Martin Duncan, depicting the microbial world inside a piece of Stilton cheese, and George Melies’ 1902 Le Voyage Dans La Lune. Knoll had seen Malick’s recent film at the time, Badlands. Having enjoyed the film, Knoll agreed to be a part of it. Little did he know of Malick’s appetite to thoroughly investigate and devour subjects and correlating theories.
An ambitious project in the making for over two decades, Voyage runs the gamut of time from the first cells splitting and foraging their way in and through their vacuuous environment to the land of the dinosaurs and Tyrannus Rex to the dawn of man up to today and into the future with sweeping visuals and spectacular effects sure to encapsulate and stimulate the mind’s imagination of time and place.
The result is a journey uncovering what shape and form time has given and what shape and form that time has taken. From the early Primordial III stars that ushered the first sparkles of light to the universe and the Tiktaalik fish that came out of the oceans to walk on land, the question of representation loomed. Four areas of particular importance needed attention: (1) Creating the astrophysical imagery before the solar system existed, and then conceiving and visualizing the futurescape of the universe referencing the latest theories on cosmic destiny; (2) Representing the protoplanetary disk that formed and condensed to become the solar system and the planet within; (3) Imagining the first unicellular forms of life in all their majesty and motion, which would learn to replicate and form increasingly complex organisms; and (4) Reconceiving animals no longer on earth and blending them with analog equivalents.
Accordingly, Producer Grant Hill introduced Malick to Dan Glass who came aboard as the film’s special effects supervisor. The two delved into wide-ranging special effects in an Austin, Texas photographic laboratory they called, Skunkworks, a techie and industry term conoting radical innovation in research and development. Included into the mix were a variety of scientists and artists who collaborated to give representation to abstract images. Conducting chemical experiments, a myriad of liquids, solids, and gasses were filmed at high speeds to generate a spectrum of effects as the team produced an array of stunning images.
In addition, sublime photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA’s interplanetary space probes, the Solar Dynamic Observatory – a satellite observing the sun, as well as adapted supercomputer simulations and electron-microscopy added to the production’s visual cornucopia of images.
Long time cinematographer Paul Atkins was charged with assembling a series of forest and desertscapes as well as seascapes to provide backdrop for the computer generated imagery of long-lost species. To provide contrast and to remind viewers of the ebb and flow of existence – and its future- , contemporary images of humankind were collected from lo-fi Harinezumi cameras Malick handed out to people across the globe that produced warm,fuzz, colorful images.
Sound designer Joel Dougherty was brought in to create and weave in natural and speculative sounds of the universe. Meanwhile, Music Supervisor Lauren Mikus worked closely with Malick in selecting instrumental pieces evoking the swirling, swelling and creative energy at both ends of the magnitude scale.
To watch Voyage of Time is a journey unto itself. Malick tells his story in a non-linear fashion allowing the viewer to create meaning from what’s being shown and from what’s being seen. Cate Blanchett’s voice has a soothing quality as she vocalizes some pretty heady stuff. If you like stunning visuals, this is a film for you. Warmly recommended.
Voyage of Time will be released in two differing formats. One a 90-minute poetic foray full of open questions narrated by Cate Blanchett and the second a 45-minute giant screen adventure for all ages narrated by Brad Pitt.
(Source: Voyage of Time Pressbook)
Photos courtesy of ASAC/la_Biennale Cinema
Screening in competition in the Sala Grande theatre today: 
Screening in competition in the Sala Grande theatre today: 
The first 12 projects have been selected for the fifth edition of Biennale College – Cinema 2016/17, submitted by teams composed of directors and producers who will take part in the first 10-day workshop to be held in Venice from October 5th to 14th 2016. The international Call was launched on May 6th 2016.
Screening in competition in the Sala Grande theatre today: 
La Biennale di Venezia and Jaeger-LeCoultre are pleased to announce that the great Iranian director Amir Naderi (Vegas, Manhattan by Numbers, Davandeh-The Runner) will receive the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker award of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival (August 31st – September 10th 2016), dedicated to a personality who has made an original contribution to innovation in contemporary cinema.
The Director of the Venice Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, made the following statement about the award: “Amir Naderi gave fundamental impetus to the birth of the New Iranian Cinema during the 1970s and ‘80s with a number of masterpieces destined to leave their mark on the history of cinema, such as Davandeh (The Runner, 1985) and Ab, bâd, khâk (Water, Wind, Dust, 1988). But even after moving to New York in 1988, Naderi remained stubbornly true to himself and to a type of cinema dedicated to research and experimentation, which refuses to bow to trends and easy shortcuts. Every film he has made clearly displays the nucleus of an identical obsession which transcends the principle of reality in order to force individuals beyond their own limits. The last half hour of Monte is a sort of synthesis of his entire opus, a larger-than-life metaphor of a struggle for survival prevailing over the dividing lines, intimidations and insults which can sometimes make human existence miserable. The breathtaking epilogue transforms the ideas, emotions and visions at the basis of all his films into powerfully expressive images. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Award is a well-deserved recognition, a tribute to the originality and greatness of a filmmaker who stands out from the crowd, the talent of a passionate director, and the generosity of a man who seems to know no limits.”
Screening in competition in the Sala Grande theatre today: 
