What happens when humanity’s infatuation with itself and an untethered free market meet 45 billion cameras… Filmmakers Axel Danielson & Maximilien Van Aertryck (Ten Meter Tower, Jobs For All!) once again turn their cameras directly on society, this time to explore, explain and expose how our unchecked obsession with image has grown to change our human behavior. From Camera Obscura and the Lumieres Brothers all the way to Youtube and the world of social media, the film chronicles how we went from capturing the image of a backyard to a multi-billion- euro content industry in just 200 years. With an exclusive use of archival and found footage, the film uses the very medium it examines, in a self-reflective yet hilarious montage.

Filmmakers Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck have collaborated since 2013 under the banner of the Swedish production company Plattform Produktion.The two filmmakers work both as a directors and producers of their own films, under the umbrella of Plattform Produktion, home to f two Palme d’Ors winners (Ruben Östlund’s The Square and Triangle of Sadness). Their award-winning short films have premiered at Berlinale, Cannes, Toronto, Hot Docs, Aspen, and Sundance. In “Ten Meter Tower” the two filmmakers asked people to climb up to the top of a diving tower and decide whether to jump…or climb back down. They wanted to see how humans look and behave when faced with such a dilemma. “Ten Meter Tower” won over 30 international prizes, was shortlisted for a 2017 Academy Award, and nominated for an Emmy Award. As in their previous work, Axel and Maximilien’s feature film debut, FANTASTIC MACHINE, also studies human behavior, but this time from the perspective of our modern media landscape: When image overtakes all other forms of communication, does it shift our fundamental human behaviors? FANTASTIC MACHINE uses nearly 100% archive images to create a fun, intense, breathtaking ride—with human beings at the center.

Filmmakers Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck have collaborated since 2013 under the banner of the Swedish production company Plattform Produktion.The two filmmakers work both as a directors and producers of their own films, under the umbrella of Plattform Produktion, home to f two Palme d’Ors winners (Ruben Östlund’s The Square and Triangle of Sadness). Their award-winning short films have premiered at Berlinale, Cannes, Toronto, Hot Docs, Aspen, and Sundance. In “Ten Meter Tower” the two filmmakers asked people to climb up to the top of a diving tower and decide whether to jump…or climb back down. They wanted to see how humans look and behave when faced with such a dilemma. “Ten Meter Tower” won over 30 international prizes, was shortlisted for a 2017 Academy Award, and nominated for an Emmy Award. As in their previous work, Axel and Maximilien’s feature film debut, FANTASTIC MACHINE, also studies human behavior, but this time from the perspective of our modern media landscape: When image overtakes all other forms of communication, does it shift our fundamental human behaviors? FANTASTIC MACHINE uses nearly 100% archive images to create a fun, intense, breathtaking ride—with human beings at the center.

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