More Than a Hero: Decentering the Human Perspective in 'Cinema of Ongoingness'

What does a story orbiting around the more-than-human look like?

In times of ecological crisis, we must shift our focus from humans as the primary agents and acknowledge our place as co-existing entities within Earth’s complex web of life. Our stories not only dictate what we see but also how we perceive it. Traditional hero-centric narratives often neglect the land, ecosystems, and agriculture that sustain protagonists. We need to centre our stories around more-than-human, challenging age-old storytelling methods.

Juan Palacios’ artistic research More Than a Hero: Decentering the Human Perspective in ‘Cinema of Ongoingness’ seeks to explore and develop narrative strategies across various audiovisual mediums including cinema, but also non-linear multi-channel formats, VR, or video games. Rooted in his work on the Master’s programme, this research has been evolving alongside his feature film Permanent Being that he is currently in the process of finalising. The Fellowship, supported by the AHK’s Thematic Collaborative Projects (TCP), gave Juan the space to document, expand and share his research. 

This shift away from the centre doesn't exclude humans; it integrates them equally alongside non-humans, reflecting on holistic ecosystems in a scale that can contain it. Underpinning the project is an inventory of effective literary methods used to give agency to non-human entities by writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Donna Haraway, Max Porter and Irene Solá.

This project cultivates a new AV form; a ‘Cinema of Ongoingness.’ Ecology involves temporal and spatial scales – and cinema excels at subverting them, bringing us closer to the perspectives of diverse entities, both the living and the non-living. Cataloging the ways audiovisual media can construct and subvert non-human scales, these kinds of films can emphasise the relevance of both human and non-human stories. A ‘Cinema of Ongoingness’ fosters a sense of continuation, offering possibilities instead of catastrophic forecasts. It can become a breeding ground for new mythologies that will re-enchant the Anthropocene’s ruins and help us discover fresh opportunities amongst them.

So far, Juan’s research has taken shape in a lecture-performance – embodying the unique qualities of the medium for shifting POVs and scales to include non-human perspectives – presented at Artistic Research: 15 Years and Onward[1] . The piece drew connections between geology and cinema, positioning both as technologies of memory and temporal representation. He is also working on a workshop for the students and teachers of the Academy, and a written summary including the reflection on the method and the workshop plan, so it can be shared.

Juan Palacios is a film director, researcher, and cinematographer with a background in Environmental Studies. He is an alumnus (cum laude) from Master’s programme of the Netherlands Film Academy. In 2019 he did a residency in Tabakalera (Spain) and he was part of Berlinale Talents. He has received the Statens Kunstfond Working Grant in Denmark three times. In 2023, he became a Fellow here at the Research Department. 

In 2016, he self-produced his first feature documentary film, PEDALÓ, which was awarded at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. He used that prize money to produce his next project, MESETA (INLAND), a sensorial journey through the ‘empty’ landscapes of inland Spain. It was awarded at CPH:DOX 2019, L'Alternativa 2019, and the Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema in Pesaro 2019, among others.

His third feature documentary, As the Tide Comes In, had its world premiere in IDFA's International Competition and it was the opening film at Visions du Reel 2024. It has also been shown at CPH:DOX, Thessaloniki Film Festival, True False, Gothenburg Film Festival, and Camerimage, among more than 50 others. It had a wide cinema release in Denmark and it has been nominated for the Robert Awards (Danish Oscars) and the Bodil Award. Recently, it won the Best Film of Spanish Cinema and Best Director of Spanish Cinema at the Gijón International Film Festival. He is currently working on a hybrid sci-fi film titled Permanent Being. 

You can read more about Juan’s work here . 

Year

2023