The Seer and the Unseen
OR Books Selects
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1h 29m
Directed by Sara Dosa • Documentary • With Ragnhildur Jonsdottir • 2019 • 89 minutes
THE SEER & THE UNSEEN is a magic realist fable about invisible elves, financial collapse and the surprising power of belief, told through the story of an Icelandic grandmother who speaks on behalf of nature under threat. As it is about to be razed by a road construction project, our heroine Ragga fights to save a threatened lava field believed to be home to a community of elves - invisible spirits of nature that over half of Iceland believes in. This road is needless and redundant - a resuscitation of the country's dogmatic embrace of the 'invisible hand of the free market,' which drove Iceland to its spectacular 2008 financial meltdown. Through Ragga's heroic story, SEER explores the invisible forces – be they elves or capitalism – that shape our visible worlds and transform our natural landscapes, revealing not only what is worth seeing but what is worth saving.
"Sara Dosa chose a wonderful premise for this unique spin on the standard enviro-doc." —Film Inquiry
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