Sofie Benoot made a poetic documentary about stone: ‘The realization that we are part of nature can be quite scary’

After Bas Devos explored the wonderful world of mosses earlier this year in the beneficial LordSofie Benoot establishes Apple Cider Vinegar drawing attention to an equally ubiquitous but underappreciated presence on our planet: stone. You will find stone among us, next to us, and even in us, as Benoot shows. The film starts from the somewhat unsavory but fascinating observation that our own body produces stone: the narrator’s oversized kidney stone is the starting point for a playful, associative journey through different themes and continents, with a unifying, ecological message as the final destination. .

How does someone come to make a film about stone? “I have always been fascinated by the parts of nature that we usually label as ‘dead’ and ’empty’,” says Benoot. “My previous films, like Desert Haze and Victoria, were set in desert areas. Then it seemed like a logical next step to make a film about the ultimate ‘dead’ matter, namely stone.”

A matter that also leaves most people stone cold.

“Indeed, and in that sense it is the perfect metaphor for how we relate to nature. We see stone as something that is outside of ourselves and for our use. Stone is the background. What would happen if I brought that to the foreground?”

Why did you choose a kidney stone as a starting point?

“The fact that our own bodies produce stone refutes the idea that stone is something remote from us. That’s why we think kidney stones are so disgusting, I think: because they blur the boundary between inside and outside. As a child, I regularly had nightmares in which all kinds of things were growing out of my body – branches, leaves, horns, stones… Creepy, but also meaningful: those dreams actually showed me that nature is not that far away from me, and that my body is also on that boundary between the organic and the inorganic exists.

“When we talk about ‘connection with nature’, we often have a very beautiful image in mind. But the reality is less romantic. Such a kidney stone shows that we are porous, and that we are not as separate from nature as we think. An uncanny feeling perhaps, but it can create an ecological awareness.”

Apple Cider Vinegar is a documentary, but it is based on a fictional British narrative voice, which gives you the feeling that you are watching a BBC nature documentary. Why that choice?

“I wanted to create an alter ego for myself, based on the great British nature documentary makers. I always had David Attenborough in the back of my mind. His career, which spans more than seventy years, also beautifully illustrates how our view of nature has changed over time. In his early days you would see him travel to distant lands to catch wild animals – just to say how much has changed. (laughs) He also didn’t want to talk about global warming for a long time. In the meantime he does that, but still mainly as an afterthought. I wanted to put that ecological idea at the center of my film and depict it in an alternative way. The narrative voice therefore contains a loving criticism of the traditional nature documentary.

“I very consciously have a relationship with actress Siân Phillips Lady cast: I wanted the female equivalent of one Sir like David Attenborough, because such a voice also radiates a certain authority and is charged with the history of the British Empire.”

Steen tells not only an ecological, but also a political story. You filmed in a Palestinian quarry, among other things. Israeli houses are built with the stones excavated there.

“I thought it was important not to limit myself to one level, and wanted to show that all these things are connected. The way we approach the world from a political point of view says a lot about how we view nature, and vice versa. In that quarry, the soil on which some live becomes the raw material from which others build their houses. Settler colonialism is a rewarding metaphor for many ecological questions.”

You film various special characters, but the American Charlotte stands out. She searches for the cause of her chronic pain in seismic activity in remote earthquake areas. You could have portrayed her as a psychiatric case, but instead you see the poetry in her thoughts.

“You could indeed laugh very easily with her. It has something of a conspiracy theory: as if the whole world revolves around her. But in combination with the other stories in my film it takes on something poetic. You see great loneliness in Charlotte, and the way she links the pain in her own body to movement in the ground tells something about her yearning for connection with the world. I can agree with that too. Why do I make films? Because I look for stories to connect with others and with things that are far away from me. Charlotte takes that very far, but it is a line of thought that I can follow.”

‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ will be in cinemas from 8/05.