Genesis 2.0

Every summer, a group of Russian hunters travels to the remote New Siberian Islands to excavate certain animal remains that are being traded for big money on the Chinese market: the tusks of woolly mammoths. This hazardous enterprise takes months, and it has cost many men their lives. Success is far from guaranteed. At the same time, a loose alliance of scientists in Boston, Seoul and Shenzhen are chasing their own dream of cloning the mammoth. In a time of rapid developments in the world of synthetic biology, the discovery of a very well preserved baby mammoth suddenly makes their dream seem feasible.

Documentary filmmaker Christian Frei (War Photographer) and his Russian co-director Maxim Arbugaev place the two worlds in diametrical opposition, and the result is an epic, visually stunning film that alternates between humble and grandiose dreams, and between blind faith in progress and a chilling perspective on the future.