Patrik Söderlund’s Realms (2018) won the main award in Cinema in Transgression Competition at the 17th International Festival Signes de Nuit, held from October 3–13 in Paris. The jury states: “A celebration of the beautiness of life which is disappearing in front of our eyes. Creating a unique and genuine causality “Realms” is a purely visual description of our paradise lost.”

A short film about geological epochs, kingdoms of life and mass extinctions, Realms voyages through deep time from the primeval ocean to the post-human future.

Writer and director Patrik Söderlund is the founding member of artist duo IC-98. Realms is his first film. With backgrounds in visual arts and cultural studies, Söderlund’s and Visa Suonpää’s 20- year collaboration as IC-98 has produced artist publications, site and context specific projects and interventions, animated moving image installations and various public commissions. IC-98 received the Finnish State Art Prize in 2009 and represented Finland at the Venice Biennale in 2015 with Abendland (Hours, Years, Aeons), which was picked by Sundance Film Festival in 2016. Their work has been shown extensively at museums, biennials and festivals in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Though their practice is essentially conceptual, ic-98 is best known for animations, which combine classical drawing and digital effects, depicting landscapes shaped by long time durations, natural and human histories and climate. The landscapes are always devoid of humans but completely shaped by their actions.

The 17th International Festival Signes de Nuit, October 3–13 2019, Paris, France

More information: Signes de Nuit