Mars, Oman

The vast plains of Oman are so much like Mars they are used as a location to train astronauts. A dazzling white fort is set up among the dunes. Researchers wear spacesuits and ride around on quads. It’s hard to imagine a greater contrast with local life. Yet what Mars, Oman draws attention to is actually the similarities.

Filmmaker Vanessa Del Campo, who won the IDFA Talent Award at Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel in 2019, starts her short film with an explanation of her own fascination for space: the unimaginable size of the universe, the countless planets and galaxies. It soon becomes apparent that this is a feeling many people share. We see two young Omani girls gazing at the starry sky like curious scientists, an elderly Bedouin talking about the planets, and two European astronauts philosophizing about living on Mars. They are people who differ greatly because of their language and culture, yet at the same time they have something much larger in common. The sense of wonder at our place in the universe transcends all barriers.