French director Véréna Paravel’s Cosmofonia, which won the Eurimages New Lab Innovation Award at CPH:DOX Industry, proposes a radical shift in cinematic language. The project explores new perceptual territories through sound, using scientific tools to access acoustic phenomena beyond human hearing. Paravel spoke to Cineuropa about the film’s origins, its evolving production process, and how the award will support its development across both cinematic and exhibition contexts. Known for her collaborations with Lucien Castaing-Taylor on films such as Leviathan and De Humani Corporis Fabrica, here, Paravel continues her exploration of sensory experience and the boundaries of representation. Cosmofonia is being produced by Florence Cohen for Anna Lena Films, in co-production with Martine d’Anglejan-Chatillon for MDAC Productions.

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Cineuropa: Can you share some more details about Cosmofonia? What led you to the project, and what makes it stand out?
Véréna Paravel: I’m always a bit cautious with the idea of “inspiration”. Cosmofonia didn’t really start from that, but from a simple and slightly troubling observation: most of the world is inaudible to us. Entire ecosystems communicate through vibrations, ultrasounds, infrasounds – forms of signalling that we neither hear nor register. And this lack of perception produces a kind of blindness, or even indifference. The project comes from a desire to shift cinema away from its visual dominance, and to construct a point of listening instead. Not metaphorically, but quite literally, by working with scientists and using tools like laser vibrometers, hydrophones and contact microphones to access these hidden dimensions. What makes the film distinct is perhaps less the subject than the method. It develops through encounters with specific environments (deltas, volcanoes, forests and oceans) and tries to let these places express their own rhythms and signals, rather than imposing a narrative on them.

Where are you in the production process right now, and what are the next big steps for you?
The film is structured into chapters, each linked to a different ecosystem. Some are already partially filmed – in the Camargue, Stromboli, in the stratosphere – while another is still in development, and some will probably shift as the work evolves. It’s not a linear process. Each shoot is also a form of research because the tools themselves are not neutral; they shape what can be perceived and recorded. So, I’m still moving between fieldwork, tests, and the early stages of editing and sound composition. The next steps are to continue recording in a few key locations, but also to begin assembling the material, to see what kind of form can emerge from it, rather than deciding it too early.

How has your experience at CPH:INDUSTRY shaped the journey of the project? What are the key takeaways?
CPH:INDUSTRY was an enriching experience for the project. It encouraged me to share a complex process in just a few sentences, which was both stimulating and challenging. What it clarified for me is the importance of staying precise without simplifying. I’d rather describe the process – the tools, the collaborations, the fieldwork – than over-explain the intention. It also helped position the project more clearly between cinema, installation and research, without forcing it into a single category.

Winning the Eurimages New Lab Innovation Award is a major milestone. How do you plan to use this support to bring the film to a wider audience?
Winning the award is truly meaningful for the project, and I’m very grateful for this support. It offers both encouragement and the resources we need to continue developing the work. I see this as an opportunity to create the conditions for a different kind of experience, one where deep listening can actually take place. At the same time, it helps structure the project so it can circulate in different forms, both as an installation and as a film, without reducing it.

Do you have an estimate for when audiences might get to experience the film?
The film depends on ongoing research, on specific environments and on conditions that can’t be entirely controlled. So, it evolves at its own pace. The immediate goal is to continue developing the material and to start shaping it into a coherent form, while keeping it open enough to transform. Parts of the project will exist before the film is finished, in exhibition formats. I like that idea, that the work can appear, shift and evolve, rather than arrive as a fixed object at the end. I am very excited to show the work in places as exceptional as LUMA Arles in a month and Mumok in Vienna at the end of the year!