'Cosmographies' Film screening, Mon 11 Aug 4pm
The Emerging Technologies Research Lab will screen the speculative film ‘Cosmographies’ by Professor Juan Franscisco Salazar, Western Sydney University on Monday 11 August, 4-6pm- all welcome.
‘Cosmographies’ is a hybrid film that draws from modes of speculative fiction, observational and poetic documentary, activism, and Indigiqueer approaches. Māori astrobiologist Xuê Noon (played by Australian/Māori artist Victoria Hunt) finds solace in Mars in 2051 as a leader from the Aotearoa Space Agency on an international scientific mission, following the discovery of dormant microorganisms by the NASA Mars Sample Return Mission in 2039. Xuê wanders across this sentient planet and reflects on the newly found lifeforms as she grows plants in a glasshouse. Through the spirit of an ancient taniwha, she slipstreams in spacetime to the Atacama Desert and to Aotearoa.
Juan Francisco Salazar Is an interdisciplinary researcher, author and documentary filmmaker whose academic and creative work explore the coupled dynamics of social-ecological change and is underpinned by a collaborative ethos across the arts, science and activism. He is a Professor of Media and Environment at Western Sydney University where he is Director of the Institute for Culture and Society. His latest book is the co-edited volume. Social Studies of Outer Space(Routledge 2023) and his latest film is the feature length speculative documentary film Cosmographies (2025).
Date: Monday 11 August 2025
Time: 4-6pm
Venue: Monash University- Caulfield campus, Building G, Level 1, Room 4 cinema
900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East
Bookings essential