The film opens with an ominous black and white aerial shot, suggesting a drone, accompanied by strange infrasonic noises. The film cuts to ground level, where we follow Sundog, an old bearded hermit living in the Sonora Desert, from a respectful distance. We already know he isn’t alone. Despite his lone survivalist lifestyle, Sundog feels watched: by encroaching patrols, planes piercing the sky and a communications tower off in the distance. He tries as best he can to protect his little world. Is he a visionary of days to come, or yet another interloper in the wilderness? A benign ecoterrorist or a utopian neo-hippie? J.P. Sniadecki and Lisa Malloy don’t settle for pat answers, preferring to stand back and observe what might well be our future. (Bruno Dequen)

A Shape of Things to Come