“Times Parallax” by Séverin Guelpa

2025 · colour · CH · En · 23’ · In competition

Filmed across the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, Bolivia, Switzerland, and the United States, the short film TIMES PARALLAX is a journey through time, space, and the fractured geology of today’s world. A weightless drift through these remote hinterlands, where rare earth elements, copper, and other resources essential to technological development are extracted far from the public eye. These seemingly desolate regions have long been home to communities that have learned to adapt to scarce resources and the ancient rhythms of nature.

Between the infinite cosmos, the earth’s surface, and its deepest layers, TIMES PARALLAX invites us to question the very notion of progress.

With a runtime of 22 minutes and 57 seconds, TIMES PARALLAX offers a vision of the world from the perspective of a drifting space module, stranded after a technical failure. Aerial imagery reveals the vastness of desert landscapes, leaving us uncertain whether they belong to Earth or another planet. Gradually, pristine nature gives way to zones devastated by mining industries, instilling the astronaut with growing doubt and dread over what he witnesses.

The module’s technology—built from materials like lithium, copper, and rare earth elements, extracted from the very landscapes unfolding below—begins to fail, subtly questioning the notion of progress. The film’s visuals and sound, increasingly disrupted by interference and static, create a disconnect between humanity and the Earth, leaving the viewer ultimately alone. TIMES PARALLAX immerses us in an otherworldly atmosphere, where the haunting soundtrack intensifies a sense of weightlessness—caught between chaos and the stark beauty of the passing landscapes.

Director’s biography
Séverin Guelpa is a visual artist based in Geneva (born 1974).
Drawing inspiration from the regions he explores, his work engages with themes of identity, culture, time, and emancipation. His installations, sculptures, videos, and photographs are deeply rooted in raw materials—stone, sand, earth and salvaged objects—which he extracts, assembles, or puts under tension to reflect on our relationship with the world and the resources we depend on. He primarily works in threatened landscapes, often in desert regions, seeking in their uniqueness and in the knowledge of local communities the driving forces behind his artistic practice.
Séverin Guelpa holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Geneva and a Master’s in Visual Arts from HEAD – Geneva (Haute École d’Art et de Design).
While Séverin Guelpa has previously created several video works, often integrating them into his exhibitions (Rumbling Waters, 2022, or De Profundis Terrae, 2023), Times Parallax marks his first standalone short film.