Science Fiction | 24 January 2020

Europe's far north, where Russia and Norway meet, is one of the least populated areas in the world. Nevertheless human intervention is visible in almost every breathtaking vista Alexis Destoop recorded. Cold, calm footage of snowfields, bodies of water, industry and research stations pass by, while a narrator from the near future reports on an investigation whose object remains concealed. In the meantime he reflects on the border as a political construct, the intangible, mythical power of nature and the expansion of fossil-fuel extraction to areas that were virtually impenetrable before global warming. Humming, growling machines provide constant background buzz in this subjective exploration of a landscape where past and future meld. Northern Drift is an aesthetic, philosophical investigation of mankind and its environment – a relationship akin to shadow-boxing.