Surfing Einstein

Description

Surfing Einstein is an artistic documentary film that deals with a group of physicists who, in 2016, proved the phenomenon of gravitational waves predicted by Albert Einstein. Taking the scientific story as a background, the film focuses on the human aspect of the research, the moments of frustration and joy, togetherness, and the unique forms of collaboration within the collective. The plot unfolds in the Physics Department of the Sapienza University in Rome and the Virgo Research Center near Pisa, portraying the everyday life and routine of the international group of scientists. However, unlike an interview, their stories are communicated through dance – the endless performance smoothly flowing from working cabinets and laboratories to spacious halls and technical premises. The director Meritxell Campos Olivé, whose work as a filmmaker is deeply interspersed with her performative practice, has worked out very personal ways of movement with every protagonist in the film – the actual scientists that have never expressed themselves through dance and acting. In Surfing Einstein, community, intuition, continuous learning, imagination, and perseverance can be set against today’s advancing egoism and hyper-individuality.