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IN VITRO

By Larissa SANSOUR

PALESTINE FILM INSTITUTE - as PROMO / CONS

Science-fiction - Development 2018

Set in the biblical town of Bethlehem, In Vitro is an Arabic-language sci-fi art film accelerating an ecological doomsday scenario already unfolding in Palestine today. Staged as a dialogue between two women scientists in an underground orchard, the film explores the notions of exile, loss and memor

- Year of production
- 2018
- Genres
- Science-fiction, Environmental
- Countries
- UNITED KINGDOM
- Budget
- 0.6 - 1 M$
- Duration
- 85 mn
- Director(s)
- Larissa SANSOUR
- Writer(s)
- Soren LIND
- Producer(s)
- Alexandra ROCHE (Spike Island)
- Synopsis
- In Vitro is a post-apocalyptic, Arabic-language feature-length art film combining science fiction, CGI, live action and historical footage. The film accelerates a climate doomsday scenario already unfolding in present day Palestine. Exploring classic sci-fi tropes such as apocalypse, human cloning, political and environmental critique, In Vitro is also a nostalgic and dystopian portrait of the town of Bethlehem throughout the past century.
  In a converted nuclear reactor under the biblical city of Bethlehem in Palestine, Dunia, the dying founder of a hi-tech orchard designed to reverse the effects on an eco-apocalypse, passes on instructions to her younger successor Alia. The aim is to cultivate a replica ecosystem and replant the healing soil above. In the
  
  vast orchard, heirloom seeds collected before the ecological disaster grow in enormous flowerbeds arranged vertically like Babylonian gardens sliding in and out like drawers. The sounds of vastness and submersion are only penetrated by the noise of bees, birds and butterflies released into the ecosystem to ensure a natural cycle of pollination.
  Soon, the intimate dialogue between the two scientists reveals stories of the past, of Dunia’s family history, her politically active father, the environmental disaster leading to the apocalypse, personal and collective loss and of their shared ambitions to restore their vanished lands. On her deathbed in the underground medical unit, Dunia’s unravelling mind fluctuates between botanical instructions and decade-old traumas such as the loss of her daughter, visually illustrated grand landscape panoramas and stylised memories staged in a lavishly decorated Arabic townhouse. The stylised flashbacks are partially inspired by real-life events from the family history of director Larissa Sansour, herself a Bethlehem native, making In Vitro a highly personal film.
  Further blurring the distinction between fiction and reality are the historical footage and archival images intersecting with the personal memory and eco-disaster scenes. These fragments of Bethlehem life from throughout the past century will act as a disjunction of the narrative progression, blending seamlessly into the fiction, despite their documentary origins.
  Shot on location in Palestine and in a studio, In Vitro’s slow-paced, single-perspective montage cross-cuts abruptly from grainy archival shots to CGI-based sci-fi scenes, mimicking the rapid fluctuations of the main protagonist’s faltering mind. The film is an emotional tale of memory, politics and loss as well as a story of two women forging a friendship on the brink of extinction.