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[Short Film] In “Sumer,” Earth is a Desolate Wasteland

Posted on January 25, 2016 by John DeNardo in Movies // 7 Comments

In Alvaro Garcia’s “Sumer”, Earth is a desolate wasteland and only a small band of humans have survived in the city of Sumer. Then, a young boy makes an amazing discovery

Short Film

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John DeNardo is the Managing Editor at SF Signal and a columnist at Kirkus Reviews. He also likes bagels. So there.

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7 Comments on [Short Film] In “Sumer,” Earth is a Desolate Wasteland

antares // January 25, 2016 at 11:12 am //

“17 years since the last tree” and the kid is reading a pbook? Yeah. Right.
Mark // January 25, 2016 at 8:36 pm //

So, was this whole thing caused by asteroids, or something mankind did? Or did mankind send the asteroids crashing? The beginning is a little confusing.
- John DeNardo // January 26, 2016 at 10:29 pm //
  
  The YouTube description had more Backstory. I should have included it here:
  
  …for unknown reasons, the Earth’s ionosphere has weakened dramatically during the course of the last century, resulting in the collapse of the entire ecosystem. Earth has become an increasingly hostile and uninhabitable place and with no shield to protect it, it is at the full mercy of meteors.
  
  All animal and plant species perished decades ago. All that remains is one small group of humans who attempt to resist the hostility and hardness of the external environment from SUMER, the last hive city in the world, which has been specifically designed to keep the population alive through oxygen supply systems.
  
  The media manipulates the available information in a manner that is purposely designed to keep people obsessed on the potential of the space exodus, letting any hope of prevailing on earth go.
  
  A young boy, Hermes, lives alone in a compartment, the property of the government, which is located close to the wall that delimits the city, an area that is highly guarded by the SSW (SUMER Security Watchers).
  
  While observing the desert from the roof of a building, Hermes suddenly sees something that grabs his attention…
Dan Geiser // January 26, 2016 at 9:11 pm //

John,
Can I just tell you it’s cool that you post these short SF films on SFSignal? I know, I know. To 99% of the world SF is *already* movies and television.

And to me and many SFSignal readers SF is 99% literature and most mainstream movies and TV are a pale comparison to what we see in our mind’s eye but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t a place for well-done SF shorts.

Thanks for allowing and sharing Short Films on SFSignal.
- John DeNardo // January 26, 2016 at 10:24 pm //
  
  You’re welcome, Dan! Thanks for taking the time to say so
Andy Kirker // January 28, 2016 at 4:31 am //

I very much enjoy these as well, John. They are often surprisingly well crafted and it doesn’t bother me if they don’t have time for coherent world-building – it’s a short film. A punchy story is good enough.
- John DeNardo // January 28, 2016 at 6:13 am //
  
  [Tips hat]