Leviathan | Fury Films

Leviathan: Episodes 1 & 2

LEVIATHAN Trailer, Episode 1: Ben (by Shezad Dawood)

A solar cataclysm has wiped out a large part of the human population. Ben reminisces about his childhood spent roaming the back corridors of the Natural History Museum in London (that contain, amongst other marvels, Darwin’s original specimen jars from the Beagle expedition) and his fascination with the Giant Squid preserved in the Marine Research labs. ------------------------------------------------------------ Leviathan Cycle by Shezad Dawood envisages a future eerily like our present, whose inhabitants are the survivors of a cataclysmic solar event. The episodes are developed by Dawood in dialogue with a wide range of marine biologists, oceanographers, political scientists, philosophers, neurologists and trauma specialists. Each film is written from the point of view of an individual character, and their fictional narratives are carefully interwoven with archival footage, linking the looming spectre of climate breakdown to human-scale stories. The larger narrative follows migratory journeys across Europe, Asia, North Africa and beyond, encountering a series of idiosyncratic communities along the way. Taking a global and collective approach, Leviathan looks at what is increasingly not only a humanitarian crisis but a wider systemic crisis within our biosphere. As the protagonists’ journeys progress and increasingly intertwine with others’ throughout the film, we see a shift from fragmentation to resilience in their methods for surviving, amidst competing visions for how the future might be shaped.

LEVIATHAN Trailer, Episode 2: Yasmine (by Shezad Dawood)

Yasmine, a woman of North African origin, ekes out an existence in the derelict, former Victorian Market Hall in Plymouth. Ben happens upon her hideout, and we follow Yasmine's inner monologue and exterior journey, through musings on borders, migration, species and social niceties. Towards the end of the episode, the pair decide to part for warmer climes, and leave Plymouth by boat as the Mayflower did in 1620. ------------------------------------------------------------ Leviathan Cycle is a ten-episode film series by Shezad Dawood that envisages a future eerily like our present, whose inhabitants are the survivors of a cataclysmic solar event. The episodes are developed by Dawood in dialogue with a wide range of marine biologists, oceanographers, political scientists, philosophers, neurologists and trauma specialists. Each film is written from the point of view of an individual character, and their fictional narratives are carefully interwoven with archival footage, linking the looming spectre of climate breakdown to human-scale stories. The larger narrative follows migratory journeys across Europe, Asia, North Africa and beyond, encountering a series of idiosyncratic communities along the way. Taking a global and collective approach, Leviathan looks at what is increasingly not only a humanitarian crisis but a wider systemic crisis within our biosphere. As the protagonists’ journeys progress and increasingly intertwine with others’ throughout the film, we see a shift from fragmentation to resilience in their methods for surviving, amidst competing visions for how the future might be shaped.

LEVIATHAn
Film Series

EPISODES 1 & 2: Fury Films

2017

Director: Shezad Dawood

Producer: Kate Wilson

Leviathan Cycle, a film series by Shezad Dawood, envisages a future eerily like our present, whose inhabitants are the survivors of a cataclysmic solar event. The episodes are developed by Dawood in dialogue with a wide range of marine biologists, oceanographers, political scientists, philosophers, neurologists and trauma specialists.

Each film is written from the point of view of an individual character, and their fictional narratives are carefully interwoven with archival footage, linking the looming spectre of climate breakdown to human-scale stories.

The larger narrative follows migratory journeys across Europe, Asia, North Africa and beyond, encountering a series of idiosyncratic communities along the way. Taking a global and collective approach, Leviathan looks at what is increasingly not only a humanitarian crisis but a wider systemic crisis within our biosphere.

As the protagonists’ journeys progress and increasingly intertwine with others’ throughout the film, we see a shift from fragmentation to resilience in their methods for surviving, amidst competing visions for how the future might be shaped.

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EPISODE ONE

EPISODE TWO