In the quiet border village of Boca Chica, Texas — hemmed in by the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Grande — life once moved to the rhythm of waves and wildlife. But the landscape is shifting. Beaches have closed, homes bought out, and wetlands drained to make way for SpaceX’s colossal 50-story rockets. Hovering above the village like steel deities, these rockets mark not just the privatization of space, but the violent remapping of Earth itself, fueled by the ambitions of a tech mogul with a messianic vision for humanity’s future.
Filmed in stark black and white and shaped by postwar sci-fi aesthetics, Shifting Baselines is a haunting observational essay about how speculative futures displace real communities, rewrite land, and recast technology as divine intervention. Following scientists, spectators, and residents on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, director Julien Elie captures a surreal moment in which space conquest is marketed as environmental salvation. Winner of the Green Dox Award at DokuFest 2025, this film reveals how cosmic ambition often begins with earthly erasure.
Oct 6 & 7: Q&A
Media Partner
Community Partner
Canada
2025
In English, French and Spanish with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Producer
Andreas Mendritzki, Aonan Yang, Julien Elie
Cinematography
Glauco Bermudez, François Messier-Rheault
Editor
Xi Feng
Original Music
Mimi Allard
Julien Elie
After directing a pair of documentaries in the early 2000s, Julien Elie took a 15-year hiatus from cinema, returning in 2018 with his epic film Soleils Noirs. Documenting a wave of violence that has affected Mexico for years, the film won multiple awards and distinctions (CPH DOX, FICUNAM, Hamburg Film Festival, among others) and was presented in nearly 60 festivals worldwide. In 2023, a second documentary filmed in Mexico, The White Guard, addressed the devastation of landscapes and territories by private companies. Elie’s latest film, Shifting Baselines (2025), premiered at Visions du réel (Nyon) and Hot Docs (Toronto).
Filmography: Le dernier repas (2003); Soleils Noirs (2018); The White Guard (2023)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Everybody to Kenmure Street
This rousing documentary (100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) never puts a foot wrong as it recreates a tense, prolonged stand-off between the police and the citizens of Glasgow when an Immigration Enforcement squad attempt to arrest two men from their homes.
Thelma & Louise
In this iconic feminist road movie BFF Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon take off for a weekend getaway that turns violent when one of them is attacked. The stakes get higher as they flee the scene. Winner: Best Original Screenplay (Callie Khouri).
Boyz n the Hood
Twenty-three-year-old writer-director John Singleton's groundbreaking portrait of three young men growing up in South Central is a film of integrity and compassion. It's a far richer portrait of Black lives than Hollywood's gangsta exploitation pics.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
In 2029, Earth has been ravaged by the war between the malevolent artificial intelligence Skynet and the human resistance. (Yep.) James Cameron's all too relevant action movie is in some ways unsurpassed. Linda Hamilton is the mom we all need right now.
