Screenings
August 31 21:00
DEBATOUN GUESTHOUSE
Shifting Baselines
Canada, 2025, 100’
in English w/ Arm. subtitles
Director and Scriptwriter: Julien Erie
Cinematographers: Glauco Bermudez, Francois Messier-Rheault
Producers: Andreas Mendritzki, Aonan Yang, Julien Elie
Editor: Xi Feng
Sound: Sylvain Bellemare
Production Company: GreenGround Productions
Where the Rio Grande meets the sea, the dunes attract rare sea birds and the last remaining wild ocelots of the USA. But the swamps have been drained, beaches closed and homes bought-out to make room for the new launch facility of SpaceX.
Shifting Baselines questions the consequences of this frenetic new space race: are these visions of a promising future or simply crazed ambitions leading us ever more swiftly to our own demise? Somehow, the entirety of the hopes and dreams, the fears and misgivings of our human-species are on display here, in the small Texan town of Boca Chica.
Julien Elie
Julien Élie is a Canadian documentary filmmaker from Quebec. He began his career with a supporting role as Pierre in the 1984 film The Dog Who Stopped the War (La Guerre des tuques), but later worked as a boom operator on films rather than continuing his acting career. He released his first documentary film, The One Who Knew (Celui qui savait), in 2001. The film centered on the investigation into the assassination of Rwandan politician Seth Sendashonga. He followed it up with The Last Meal (Le Dernier repas), about prisoners on death row in Texas, in 2003. Dark Suns and The White Guard both focused on the issue of violent crime in Mexico. His newest film, Shifting Baselines, premiered at the 2025 Visions du Réel documentary film festival.
Filmography
The One Who Knew (2001), The Last Meal (2003), Dark Suns (2018), The White Guard (2023), Shifting Baselines (2025).