Science fiction is a precision tool for analyzing the present, and so these glimpses into the social and technological future (and not to mention the futuristic present already upon us!) offer us a clearer idea of where the Middle East and rest of the world stand poised today.

FILMS:

Nation Estate | 9 min | PALESTINE/DENMARK | 2012

Directed by Larissa Sansour

Nation Estate is a 9-minute sci-fi short offering a clinically dystopian, yet humorous approach to the deadlock in the Middle East. The film explores a vertical solution to Palestinian statehood: One colossal skyscraper housing the entire Palestinian population – now finally living the high life.

Robota | 6 min | USA/SPAIN/CZECH REPUBLIC | 2013

Directed by David Braun & Victor Sala

#robot #woman #room #isolation #technology #pills #entertainment #food #happiness #spy #curiosity #spiral #tale #relationship #past #present #future #machine #desires #Ona #dreams

Survival Visa | 9 min | TUNISIA / QATAR | 2014

Directed by Nadia Rais

The NASA (National & Arabic Survival Agency) publishes a call for the attribution of a limited number of Survival Visas.

Electrostatic | 4 min | SYRIA | 2013

Directed by Sawsan Nourallah

Every day, the electric pole stands in the same place while everything moves around him. Until a bird arrives and the pole desires mobility. But this may come at the cost of his useful purpose…

Da Vinci | 25 min | ITALY | 2011

Directed by Yuri Ancarani

Robotic surgery department. A surgeon performs an entire operation, controlling the robot’s motions using a joystick.

Applied Metacinema | 4 min | FRANCE/RUSSIA | 2014

Directed by Luis Nieto.

There has not yet been any applied work of Metacinema. It was necessary to give the path to methodological problems. That is the reason why I decided to choose the purest subject to analyze. That is a subject composed of a single “substance”.

MOD | 11 min | TURKEY | 2012

Directed by Deniz Tarsus,

Equilibrium is upside down, humanity is exhausted, and people are willing to sacrifice everything for a dream machine that can show them their future happiness.