Poetry in motion

Global – Past Forward is a film noir that explores the creative convergence between dreams and reality.

• The film is a collaboration between designer Miuccia Prada and US writer and director David O Russell
• It follows Allison Williams, Freida Pinto and Kuoth Wiel as they each experience the same scenario

The silent film is set in a surreal world in which dreams and reality blur, creating a contemplative work that is ‘free from normal narrative or audience expectations’ and fuelled by suspense, fear, danger, love, identity and time.

Past Forward, described as a ‘cinematic poem’, switches between Williams, Pinto and Wiel as they experience the same scenario, and also stars John Krasinski, Jack Huston and Sinqua Walls as their male counterparts.

Although segments of the film were presented at Prada’s spring/summer 2017 collection show, the primary purpose of the project is ‘simply for the joy of making art’ rather than promotional material, according to O Russell.

‘Here was the opportunity to make a journey guided by layers of movie memories, life images and emotions, with no aim except to create art, as if it were a painting or a sculpture,’ he explains.