A Human Year is Seven Earth Years

Over the course of the 20th century, the so-called "Military Industrial Complex" in the United States developed not only through arms manufacturing, but even more foundationally through radio and television technologies. 'A Human Year is Seven Earth Years' is an experimental documentary that examines the effects of these last 100 years of telecommunications on the human psyche, weaving historical narratives and personal anecdotes across radio waves and brain waves. The film interrogates the psychogeographic weight of 'el imperio estadounidense' and its quest to create a militarized global communications system. To what extent has the last century of network-building been a type of psychological warfare reaching our very dreams? And what remnants of this imperial project can we use to build a different future? Over the course of the 20th century, radio and television developed in concerted effort with the North American military-industrial complex. “A Human Year is Seven Earth Years” traces that story, from United Fruit’s agricultural empire and pigeon-guided missiles to airborne psy-op stations and the DSM V. Weaving together archival video, media archaeology, and analog film experiments, the film interrogates the psychogeographic weight of ‘el imperio estadounidense’ and its quest to create a militarized global communications system. To what extent has the last century of network-building been a type of psychological warfare reaching our very dreams? What remnants of this imperial project can we use to build a different future? Part history of empire, part personal travelogue, and part metaphysical exploration of technology, "A Human Year is Seven Earth Years" traces the story of electronic communications just as much as it examines the video essay genre itself.

Year

2022

Director

Adrian Randall

Duration

83 min

Country

United States

Language

English, Spanish