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Genesis 2.0

Genesis 2.0

A film by Christian Frei and Maxim Arbugaev

The film observes the harsh and dangerous life of so-called mammoth hunters on the remote New Siberian Islands in the far north of Siberia. The archaic landscape in which these people are looking for the tusks of extinct mammoths looks like primordial earth. There is a kind of gold rush fever in the air, because the prices for this white gold have never been so high. But the thawing permafrost unveils more than just precious ivory. Sometimes the hunters find an almost completely preserved mammoth carcass with fur, liquid blood and muscle tissue on which arctic foxes gnaw.

Such finds are magnets for high-tech Russian and South Korean clone researchers in search of mammoth cells with the greatest possible degree of intact DNA. Their mission could be part of a science-fiction plot. They want to bring the extinct woolly mammoth back to life à la “Jurassic Park”, and resurrect it as a species. And that’s just the beginning. Worldwide, biologists are working on re-inventing life. They want to learn the language of nature and create life following the Lego principle¹². The goal of synthetic biology is to produce complete artificial biological systems. Man becomes the Creator.

The resurrection of the mammoth is a first track and manifestation of this next great technological revolution. An exercise. A multi-million dollar game. The new technology may well turn the world as we know it completely on its head…and all of this has its origin in the unstoppably thawing permafrost at the extreme edge of Siberia.

Genesis two point zero.

Year: 2018

Country: Switzerland / China / Russia / South Korea / USA

Runtime: 112 min

Color: Color

Language: English, Russian

Subtitles: English

“The footage is beautifully shot ... The New Siberian Islands, with their stark landscapes and almost unearthly rock formations, are a character unto themselves.”

- Hammer to Nail

"...refuses to reduce its complexities down to a snappy conclusion, preferring instead to present its observations and let us do the work for ourselves."

- FILMINK

"A fascinating, sometimes frightening film which, like its subjects, is perhaps a little too ambitious for its own good.”

- Screen International

"The woolly mammoth tusk is just the tip of the iceberg in this haunting excavation."

- Hollywood Reporter

"The doc is rewarding for the incredible, historic events captured within."

- RogerEbert.com

About the Director

Swiss director and producer Christian Frei is considered one of today’s most innovative and compelling documentary filmmakers. He was nominated for an Academy Award with War Photographer (2001) and won the World Cinema Directing Award at Sundance with Space Tourists (2009). For his latest endeavor he reached out to Siberian filmmaker Maxim Arbugaev.

 

FILMOGRAPHY

War Photographer (2001)

Space Tourists (2009)

Cast and Crew

CREW

Producers: Christian Frei

Director: Christian Frei

Co-Director and Cinematographer: New Siberian Islands, Maxim Arbugaev

Co-Producers: Martin Pieper, Urs Augstburger, Silvana Bezzola

Screenplay: Christian Frei

Director of Photography: Maxim Arbugaev, Vladimir Egorov, Peter Indergand

Editing: Thomas Bachmann, Christian Frei

Sound mixer: Florian Eidenbenz

Music by: Max Richter, Edward Artemyev

 

CAST

Peter Grigoriev

Semyon Grigoriev

George Church

Spira Sleptsov

Woo Suk Hwang

Home Media

DVD

Digital

Awards and Festivals

Sundance Film Festival
Competition -World Cinema Documentary Award for Cinematography

40th Moscow International Film Festival
-Winner Audience Award 2018

CinemAmbiente 2018
-Best Documentary

Seoul Eco Film Festival

Green Competition Section
-Best Feature Film in International Competition

San Francisco (USA), Green Film Festival
-Green Film Network Award

Internationales Arktik Festival
-Golden Raven Award

Docutah International Film Festival
-Best Foreign Film

Lunenburg Doc Fest
-Feature Documentary Award

24e Visions du Réel Festival international de cinéma Nyon

Sarasota International Film Festival

DOK.fest Internationales Dokumentarfilmfestival München

15th Millenium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival

Docs Barcelona International Film Festival

20th Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival Tel Aviv

DocEdge

65th Sydney Film Festival
Pelicam International Film Festival

Doc Utah

Meath (Ireland), Guth Gafa International Film Festival

Doku Fest Prizren

Aegan Film Festival

Stronger than Fiction Documentary Festival

Locarno Film Festival

Play Dates
Festival/TheaterCityStateDate
Sundance Film FestivalSalt Lake CityUT1/18/18
Sarasota Film Festival SarasotaFL4/19/18
DOCUTAHSt. GeorgeUT9/3/18
San Francisco Green Film FestivalSan FranciscoCA9/6/18
Lunenburg Doc FestLunenburgNova Scotia , Canada9/23/18
Margaret Mead Film FestivalNew YorkNY10/19/18
PLANET IN FOCUSTorontoON, Canada10/25/18
Red Rock Film FestivalCedar CityUT11/2/18
Glimmerglass Film DaysCooperstownNY11/11/18
San Joaquin International Film FestivalSan JoaquinCA12/15/18
IFC CenterNew York NY 1/2/19
Gene SiskelChicago IL1/5/19
Bear Tooth TheatreAnchorageAK1/14/19
Loft CobourgCobourgON, Canada1/18/19
Laemmle's Music Hall Beverly HillsCA1/18/19
Real Art WaysHartfordCY1/18/19
Center for Contemporary ArtsSanta FeNM1/18/19
The Guild CinemaAlbuquerqueNM1/25/19
Gateway ColumbusOH1/25/19
Victoria Film FestivalVictoriaCanada2/1/19
Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts CenterNew OrleansLA2/1/19
Triplex CinemaGreat BarringtonMA2/10/19
Boedecker Theater(Dairy Arts Center)BoulderCO2/13/19
Cedar LeeCleveland HtsOH2/21/19
Sudbury Coop CinemaSudburyON, Canada3/1/19
Hippodrome TheatreGainesvilleFL3/1/19
Portland Museum of ArtPortlandME3/8/19
International Film SeriesBoulderCO3/12/19
Naro CinemaNorfolkVA3/13/19
MASS MOCANorth AdamsMA3/14/19
Cleveland CinemathequeClevelandOH3/21/19
Green Mountain Film FestivalEssex, MontpelierVT3/22/19
Freer Gallery and Sackler GalleryDCDC3/23/19
Union TheatreMilwaukeeWI3/27/19
The Music HallPortsmouthNH4/2/19
The Picture HousePelhamNY4/28/19
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