An experimental film created within an area of conservation in the Andean Araucanía that combines footage taken with trap cameras, recordings of the umbra during a total solar eclipse and of the entities and sacred “temples” that make up the natural landmarks of this forest, intervened with 3D modelings of weather data. By means of a visual, contemplative and poetic language that intertwines the ancestral and the technological, Umbra seeks to interconnect visions between the ground and the sky, between sleep and wakefulness, the visible and the invisible. An audiovisual immersion into the hidden and invisible aspects of a forest in search of subtle, critical and above all invisible cycles of light and dark; of life, death and regeneration that make us part of the nature we inhabit.

In search of possible contemporary representations of forests in the political and economic situation of the Araucanía region in Chile, where industry and monoculture continues to provoke important territorial conflicts as well as causing major ecological upsets, the two videos are placed side by side as abstract narratives that reveal a multi-layered forest. The sounds of the forest are interlaced with the voice of Mapuche poet Leonel Lienlaf reciting “Ka wün” (Transformation), verses dedicated to the reciprocity between his people and the trees. These scenes explore how the notion of mimesis allows forms of expression and interaction with forests not only through poetry but also beyond language, drawing an analogy between forest and cinema, in which we could perceive forest as cinemas beyond human temporalities: multitudes of multi-directional screens, whose intentionalities and subjectivities create countless signs and narratives.

Each musical note is the sound of an araucaria tree’s structural scientific analysis. It is the processing of georeferenced points obtained by a LiDAR scanner, which uses light and its reflection to reconstruct a detailed 3D image. By programming a composition in Max / MSP, this biological data is used as seeds for the algorithmic development of melodies, harmonies and rhythm. The composition generates a score to be played by a classical interpreter who humanizes the data, creating a cycle that begins from the life of the araucarias and continues through its scientific data extraction that then is brought back to life through the sounds emitted by the piano.

A visual story composed of three moments that travels through the dividing line between the underwater world and the terrestrial world to address the relationship of water and the Universe. The video begins with the arrival of water on Earth through comets, which then takes multiple aquatic manifestations as it moves on land. Playing with the visual frictions of light on water, it brings forth the figure of the rainbow as a portal to access the Universe, the underworld and other possible words, as conceived by the Andean worldview.

Despite the illuminating insights of science, nature is largely an unknown world onto which we tend to project our own concerns based on what we observe within it. Many times we recognize in its form, movement and behavior certain elements that we can relate with our ideals, fears or doubts. Many folkloric myths and tales revolving around nature epitomize this form or reflection. Within this video-meets-animation documentary, scientific and utilitarian video material is brought together under this premise.