Holgut. 2021. Belgium. Directed by Liesbeth de Ceulaer. DCP. 75 min.
In Yakutia, Russia, where Holgut’s protagonists are searching for animals long gone and nearly gone, annual temperatures have already risen two degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution. With the Siberian permafrost melting, a scientist searches for cells of the long-extinct woolly mammoth with dreams of experiments in de-extinction. In the same swaths of immense nature, Roman and Kyym search for wild reindeer, which have seemingly gone extinct, too. Blending documentary and science fiction, Holgut asks if we can dream of a future by going backwards.