Review: An Impossible Project
Digital: An Impossible Project (2020)
Suitably shot entirely on 35mm film, as well as a live score recorded directed to vinyl with a full jazz orchestra, Jens Meurer‘s An Impossible Project is a fascinating look into how the digital world has become an essential part of our lives, often pushing away the “real analogue world” and the tangible physical things that surround us because we are too busy looking into screens to notice them.
The film follows, Florian “Doc” Kaps; an eccentric, enigmatic Viennese biologist who risks his career and entire fortune to take on AN IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT to save the world’s last Polaroid factory.
In an ode to physical formats, the film charts Doc’s drive to keeping analogue alive. His obsession and passion takes him on a journey across the globe where he encounters like-minded souls who share his passion for the tangible, from photography to vinyl.
Along the way Doc meets others analogue superheroes: there’s Moleskine founder Maria Sebregondi, a direct-to-vinyl recording session in Vienna with American Idol singer Hayley Reinhart, and a fateful trip to the Südbahnhotel, a 1902 Grand Hotel in the Alps, an all-analogue wonder that has stood empty but fully functional for 43 years and that’s set for a revival… and a there’s surprise twist in the tale.
I absolutely loved Doc’s passion for all things physical, and his drive and determination to keep his projects moving forward were an inspiration to us all not to give up on the things that we love…no matter how large the odds may seem at success.
For those of us who grew up in an analogue age, An Impossible Project is a timely reminder of what we should be fighting to keep preserved, while for the “youngsters” out there, this is a little taste of what you may well be missing as you’re updating your online statuses and/or watching the latest viral video of a dog on a skateboard.
Review by Dave from an online screening link kindly supplied by Aim Publicity.