'Besides Influenza 2020'. Still from movie. 2020
This re-mastering is a response to the Covid19 panic-demic. 'Besides Influenza' is a quote from the book by the astronomer Fred Hoyle, 'Our Place in the Universe'. This movie starts with a sequence of a sail boat traversing left to right with an overlay narration by the artist of an extract of the book. The theme is related to the theory of Panspermia (life everywhere) which is expanded by Fred Hoyle to include life from Space in the form of viruses and bacteria incident on the Earth.
In this scenario evolution is driven by the acquisition of genes (lateral gene transfer) from these sources, with sickness being the consequence of a failure to evolve. The first part of the movie alludes to the plague carried to the port city in the film 'Nosferatu' by the rat infested ship. In the latter sequence, the speech is run backwards and evolution is portrayed as new modulations in the shadow of a figure on a topography of rock.
Still below : click 'Play Movie' to view
