Doppelgängers³ (Film)

Throw away all common sense and tap into your madness as you follow Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian ⎯ a London-based artist and educator of Armenian and Algerian descent ⎯ on a fascinating journey to build a new civilization on the moon. Along with her doppelgängers, Myriam and Lucia, Nelly challenges us to defy power structures and reject planetary exploitation by letting go of the constraints of borders, gender, and religion to embrace what diversity could be in the vast landscape of our imaginations. 
 

Prior to their mission, Nelly and her parallel version of self speak with a wide-ranging collection of experts. There’s an LGBTQ+ rights activist, an astronomer, a political scientist, an archaeologist who also makes wine, a theoretical physicist, an environmental designer, a horror filmmaker, and a mathematical economist. They are all crucial to their quest to uncover the key to a queer, eco-feminist future devoid of generational trauma, colonization, and imperialism. However, as the analog space mission takes unexpected turns, the future remains as uncertain as the condition of Schrödinger’s Cat. Featuring the music of Pussy Riot and Colin Self, Doppelgängers³ had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival.

 The film features SETI Institute co-founder Dr. Jill Tarter and SETI Institute senior planetary astronomer Dr. Franck Marchis. Both Ben Hayoun-Stépanian and Marchis will be at the San Francisco screening on June 24.