Tomorrow, the Burning Heavens – Films

Himmelsfeuer

Max Bloching
Germany | 2024 | 22 min
World premiere
Language : German
Subtitles : English, French

The Alps, 1560. A rare meteorological phenomenon causes the sky to “catch fire”. People fear the Apocalypse, which then manifests as a cold snap that dramatically affects the harvests. This narrative, interwoven with images depicting the technical management of the Alpine landscape, creates a fascinating dialogue between the ancestral apocalyptic imagination and the unfolding climate collapse.

On 28 December 1560, a rare meteorological phenomenon caused the skies over the Swiss and German Alps to "catch fire". Locals feared the Apocalypse, which did indeed materialise, in the form of a small Ice Age (from 1560 to around 1700), a cold period that dramatically affected harvests. The incident is related in witness accounts and hand-coloured woodcuts. Tomorrow, the Burning Heavens brings this archive material to life by setting these engravings in motion and relating these tales from another era that resemble legends. Interspersed with images of the technical management of the Alpine landscape, the stories weave a dialogue between the ancestral apocalyptic imagination and the current climatic collapse. While we may no longer believe in the fire-breathing dragons seen in the sky at the time, the portents of the apocalypse can be seen in the images of glaciers melting and disappearing.
Mourad-Anis Moussa

Tomorrow, the Burning Heavens, 2024
What Current Is Under the Sea, 2022
Unwritten Letters, 2021
London in Silence, 2017