Tunable Mimoid

a generative film about mimoid’s response
to non-ionising and ionising man made radiation

This video demonstrates the most recent research achievements of the Centre for Mimoid Studies (CMS), a group from the Giesean Institute of Solaristics. According to their recently published paper, the scientists have discovered that tissue of the extraterrestrial organism (mimoid) regenerates after being exposed to the harmful effects of both ionising and non-ionising radiation. For the experiment, mimoid samples were cryogenically transported from Solaris to Earth. In a noninvasive live-cell imaging solution, the mimoid’s tissue was bombarded with the real-time customizable metamaterials and exposed to the time-varying electromagnetic fields. The researchers claimed that “mimoid samples not only behaved as tunable living systems, but they also

exhibited self-organizing behaviour while mimicking patterns of the controlled electromagnetic fields.” This video was produced for the general public in order to promote the benefits of extraterrestrial studies on the Sustain Earth initiative. The research results have opened up new myriad pathways, options and possibilities for modern science and its recent Sisyphean efforts in saving us from the sixth mass extinction.

Tunable Mimoid is a generative fan-science-fiction film that pays a tribute to Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris.The story is told in current times when fakery can be easily fabricated, distributed and shared. The ironic and dry tone of Tunable Mimoid is in dialogue with Lem’s wry visions of modern science. In Tunable Mimoid’s narrative, the scientific methods used by the research team provided the solutions to various problems associated with dangerous (non) ionising radiation waves including gamma rays, T-Rays and ELF/VLF electromagnetic waves. By exploiting, controlling and tuning the living forms - monsters from the Solaris ocean, scientists have found ways to neutralise a fraction of the mess we made on our planet. Our pursuit to eliminate the harmful radiation effects caused by power lines, electric transformers, appliances or nuclear waste could be resolved by the exploitation of forms that are external, and distant.

The research team uses modern technologies which (!could) exist today: custom nanographene metaballs, nonperiodic oscillators or meta-strontium laser pulses. After being exposed to those technologies, mimoids react, neutralise, heal and regenerate. Their surface appearance, viscosity, refractive index, and the unearthly screams that they emit, are all affected by the man-made technologies. In this theatre of scientific experimentation and cold violence, mimoids are indestructible. As the consumers of the act, we feel a weird satisfactory sensation while observing a living form which can be tuned, controlled and exploited.

Tunable Mimoid.mov from Vladimir Todorovic on Vimeo.

Direction, animation, editing and production by
Vladimir Todorovic

Music by
Brian O’Reilly

Duration: 7:13’
Screening format: Digital video, Colour, 4K (4096X2160, HQ prores, DCP)
Ratio: 16:9
Audio: 5.1, Stereo
Production: Hoopsnake Studio
Year: 2020 Country: Australia

Awards:
Honorable Mention, Punto y Raya Festival, 2021
Off-Limits Award, 60th Annecy International Animation Film Festival, 2021
Special Mention, 33rd Fano International Film Festival, 2021
1st Prize Experimental, 16th Athens Animfest, 2021

Screenings:
Animatricks 2022, Experimental competition, International Animation Festival
| 19.–22.5.2022 // Helsinki
FilmÓptico - International Art Visual and Film Festival, Tarragona, Spain, May, 2022
Anifilm 2022, International Festival of Animated Films, International Competition, Liberec, Czech Republic, 10-15.5.2022.
Best of Punto y Raya Festival 2021, IP Studio, Wroclaw, Poland, 14.5.2022
International Animation Film Festival Kuker, Sofia, Bulgaria, 25-29.5.2022
60th Ann Arbor Film Festival, International Competition, March 22-27, 2022
21st Animation Festival Monstra, Panorama, Lisbon, 16-27 March, 2022
7th Glas Animation Festival, online edition, 6-10 April, 2022
Brussels Independent Film Festival, Rabbit Holes, 6-13 February, 2022
Animaze, Montreal International Animation Festival, 18.12.2021 – 16.1.2022.
14th Piccolo Festival dell'Animazione, Arte e Animazione, Italy, 20-27.11.2021
5th Malatesta Short Film Festival, Cesena, Italy, 13-21.11.2021
19th International Animation Film Festival Tindirindis, Latvia 25-30.11.2021
18th International Short Film Festival, accordi @ DISACCORDI – Napoli, 16-20.11.2021
III Istanbul Experimental Film Festival, Istanbul, 12-21.11.2021.
18th Animateka, International Animated Film Festival, Best of the World, Slovenia, 29.11-5.12.2021.
7th Punto y Raya Festival, competition, Austrian Film Museum, Vienna, 25-28.11.2021.
28th International Film Festival Etiuda&Anima, competition, Kraków Poland, 16–21 November 2021
13th International Animated Film Festival – TOFUZI, The Experimental Animated Film Competition, Tbilisi, Georgia, 25-31.10.2021
ANIMAFEST GDANSK - 7. International Animation Film Festival, Gdansk, Poland, 14-17.10.2021
14th International Animated Film Festival Banjaluka, Panorama, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 24-28.10.2021
Digerati Emergent Media Festival, Denver, 1-30.9.2021
17th Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF), Tactus, October, 2021
50th Montreal Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC), Les Nouveaux Alchimistes Competition, 6-17.10.2021. Montreal, Canada
33rd Fano International Film Festival, Fano, Italy, 19-23.10.2021
16th Sapporo International Short Film Festival & Market, International Competition, 9-31.10.2021, Sapporo, Japan
International Futurological Film Festival, 10-12.9.2021, Lodz, Poland
ANIMA2021 - XI Córdoba International Animation Festival, competition, Argentina
Bideodromo – International Experimental Film and Video Festival, Bilbao(Basque Country)
14th Animasyros Animation Festival 2021, 22-26 September, Greece
25th Avanca Film Festival, International Competition, Portugal, 23.7-1.8.2021
32nd Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival, 19-29.8.2021
7th Bogotá Experimental Film Festival, August, 2021
11th Anibar International Animation Festival, 23-30.7.2021
VIII Insomnia International Open-Air Animation Film Festival, Kaluga Region, Russia, 15-19 July, 2021
Altered Images Film and Music Festival, London, October, 2021
20th International Image Festival, INTER/ESPECIES, Manizales, Columbia, 24-28.5.2021
Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Perth, Australia, 1-11.7.2021
60th Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Off Limits Competition, 14-19 June 2021
18th International Short Film Festival – Vienna Shorts, Animation Avantgarde, International Competition, 27.5.-1.6.2021
11th Pune Short Film Festival, Maharashtra, India, 2021
16th Athens Animfest, 26-28 March, 2021 (1st Prize Experimental)
International Limestone Coast Video Art Festival, The Riddoch Arts & Cultural Centre, Mount Gambier, Australia, 6.11.-6.12.2020