Chronosync

Some filmmakers choose to tell small stories, finding whole worlds in tiny details. Sofia Laszlovszky takes the opposite approach with Chronosync. The film examines humanity's view of the universe through the sweep of human history, depicting scenes from myths and legends along with our evolving scientific understanding, all in just under seven minutes, plus credits. Aside from the run-time, there is absolutely nothing small about it.

Given the contrast between its scope and its length, it goes without saying that Chronosync is impressionistic, not comprehensive. The film unfolds as a series of stylized vignettes, each reflecting a specific worldview from a particular place and time. Images of a dreaming Vishnu, animistic spirits and Christian creation stories anchor the first half of the film in mythology, while moon-walks, binary landscapes and greedy black holes eventually find their way into our understanding.

As disparate as these scenes are, they're rendered in a consistent style, a sort-of acknowledgement of the shared reality of each understanding. After all, every story we tell ourselves about the universe has some kernel of truth to it, some aspect of existence that it tries to centre and understand. Some are simplifications, others are abstractions, roundabout ways of imparting lessons or explaining the unknown. But they all emerge from and strive for the same desire — to transform the world around us into something we can understand.

Chronosync is more a source of questions than answers, which is always going to be the case when you're dealing with the biggest questions out there. But then, the same could be said for all of the myths, legends, and stories the short depicts. None of them contains the whole truth, but there's something to be gleaned from each, and the grand human narrative they contribute to together.