The mountains are connected to our screens : Reimagining apocalyptic storytelling through documentary filmmaking

This thesis is an attempt to reflect on my own creative process and put it in relation to critical ideas and artworks that deals with themes of apocalypse, ecology and political theory. By doing this I hope to examine the role of apocalyptic narratives in our society today and see how my own film relates to these ideas. By putting my artistic process and film in relation to a theoretical framework I hope to discover new perspectives on aesthetics and how to tell an apocalyptic story in our day and age and how this relates to documentary filmmaking and digital culture. To engage with a critical perspective on the ecological questions regarding my work I am taking help from thinkers such as the finish art historian and media professor Jussi Parikka and his ideas about geology of media where the earth crust itself can be considered a mediating force. I am also introducing the concept of buen vivir presented by the post-colonial theorist Rolando Vásques to critically examine the documentary process in Sápmi. Furthermore, I explore the religious idea of the holy fool who appears in the film from a societal perspective by turning to the media theorist Byung- Chul Han. I also make us of the theologian Ola Sigurdsons ideas about the transcendental power of comedy to understand the more comical sides of my filmmaking. By putting these theoretical ideas against my practice I try to find an expanded understanding of the apocalyptic film genre and how the artistic process relates to healing and transformation in times of societal and existential crisis.