PEDROMELANCHOLIE | ARTE

No material has shaped the 20th and early 21st centuries as much as oil. Now, the oil age is coming to an end, and we are gradually moving away from this fossil fuel. Our dependence on oil, which has become the black mirror of the last 150 years of human history, is now becoming clear to us. The film, in collaboration with oil experts and cultural scientists Benjamin Steininger and Alexander Klose, takes us back to the petromodern era. Through artworks from various periods and world regions, it shows how deeply oil is rooted in our lives. The film also demonstrates how oil has inspired artists worldwide to create impressive, provocative, and political works. Their unique perspective reveals our ambivalent relationship with oil and could mark the beginning of a discourse that helps us slowly detach from oil.

arte | 52 minutes | 2022

Mathias Frick DIRECTOR
Christopher Dürkop, Anne Misselwitz DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Christian R. Timmann EDITING
Michael Schmidt SOUND
Eva Rink PRODUCER
Vive La Dok PRODUCTION COMPANY