Apoptosis is a video essay created from footage shot during the first lockdown in Italy. Through a cut-up exercise of 1970s counter-cultural texts—from William S. Burroughs and Nanni Balestrini to Michel Foucault—intertwined with medical jargon, the film confronts programmed cell death (apoptosis) as a metaphor for the cycles of control, decay, and automatization in social, political, and biological systems. Original footage merges with 3D techniques to create an atmospheric reflection on the construction of collective imaginaries, the codification of language, and the mechanisms through which power shapes perception and experience.

 

Credits: Filmaking: Federico Pozuelo; Actors: Emilio Mannari, Cristina Accettulli, Brinch; Music Composer and Sound Design: MGMO.