‘Doppelgängers³’ Review – New Experimental Documentary Will Make You Rethink The Potential of Space Travel

In 2024, the final frontier has never felt closer to home. As Earth’s ongoing climate crisis has surged the planet toward an inhospitable future, space – what was once a giant leap for mankind – has now become the next step in humanity’s evolution. We have rovers scouring for water on Mars, billionaires funding intergalactic settlement colonies, and megalomaniacal dictatorships launching satellites into orbit as instruments of war. The daunting future of life in space is deeply sobering, in part because it has already been placed into the hands of those who are responsible for how we got here. The once hopeful, intrepid vision of NASA has since been replaced by figureheads such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, both of whom are products of a long history of colonization and displacement that has slowly, but surely, churned our world into one of wealth inequality, rampant poverty, and corporate slavery.

If we’re going to go to the trouble of acclimating to life in zero gravity, could we humor a fresh start along with it? Perhaps a change in leadership is in order, one that can take our collective traumas into account and learn from them. If your mindset has even the slightest lean in this ponderous direction, you will be hard-pressed to find a better film to galvanize your worldview than Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian’s Doppelgängers³, a film whose title alone is likely enough to pique anyone’s initial curiosity. Part verite memoir, part talking head extravaganza, all coursing with anarchic energy and visual splendor, Hayoun-Stépanian’s film is an experimental shot to the zeitgeist that attempts to introduce audiences to the concept of plurality: that a breadth of diverse voices and unique perspectives is the approach we should take to rebuild our world through space travel, rather than the monolithic, colonialist viewpoint held by most white billionaires. 

As a designer of experiences for the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, Hayoun-Stépanian is far from your conventional space scientist – her first film followed her efforts to form the “International Space Orchestra” – but this makes her the perfect candidate to completely explode any viewer’s preconceptions about space travel. As she travels the world interviewing colleagues and collaborators about plurality, her wholesome wit and boundless creative eye make her a fascinating emcee for her cinematic journey, which jumps between soundbites about alien microbes to a blue-screened sculpture of Schrödinger’s cat with ease. Hayoun-Stépanian makes it no secret that she is here to provoke you with unexpected, at times bizarre ideas both visually and informationally. However, it is their playful spirit and boundless curiosity that makes their film a joy to watch, even if not everything will stick on a first viewing.

The core of Doppelgängers³ revolves around a loosely defined space simulation held by Hayoun-Stépanian to further test her theory of plurality. The filmmaker recruits two “doppelgängers” to travel to Mars, in this case an enclosed encampment in the cavernous mountain caves of Spain, and attempt to begin a new civilization. Lucia Kagramanyan and Myriam Amroun, the two duplicates, only vaguely resemble her – they all have olive skin, messy brown hair, and jobs as multidisciplinary artists – but they share something deeper. Hayoun-Stépanian, who is of Algerian and Armenian descent, is a child of two parents each affected by war and genocide in their respective countries. Kagramanyan and Amroun, Armenian and Algerian respectively, bring their own histories with these same traumas. 

As a trio, they represent a microcosm of Hayoun-Stépanian’s larger goal, to welcome those affected by the world’s collective traumas into the conversation behind space travel. It’s why her wealth of interviews includes as many insights from scientists, like SETI’s own Jill Tarter (the inspiration for Robert Zemeckis’ Contact), as it does activists like Armenian trans woman Lilit Martirosyan. It’s even reflected in the film’s soundtrack, made up of dizzyingly electric songs from the band Pussy Riot; founder and frontwoman Nadya Tolokonnikova has long been outspoken against Putin’s murderous regime, spending over a year in prison between 2012 and 2013 and currently in exile after being arrested in absentia. Hayoun-Stépanian’s vision is vast, inclusive, and restorative, which will make it an attractive and ultimately accessible work for anyone who has felt betrayed by and/or inspired to speak out against the world’s crumbling power structures.

Though Hayoun-Stépanian’s eponymous Mars mission makes for some compelling drama, the bulk of her film’s appeal lies in the interviews; Hayoun-Stépanian shoots them all in extreme wide shots, often putting herself in-frame to both add humor as well as give the interviews a more conversational feel. Each interview adds a unique, exciting layer to Hayoun-Stépanian’s exploration of plurality, so much so that the Mars mission feels languid by comparison. It doesn’t help that the film’s ending, though conceptually mesmerizing, feels abrupt in its conclusions regarding the results of the mission and how they integrate into the plurality of it all. Those who stuck with the film only to reach a less-than-satisfying end may feel bitter, but the film only ages better with time. Its ideas stick to you and broaden your mind in ways that feel humanist, like an antidote to our polarized world. Ironically (or perhaps very intentionally), in its exploration of space, Doppelgängers³ gives us hope for life on our current planet too.

Doppelgängers³ held its World Premiere as part of the Visions section at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival. It will make its West Coast premiere at Frameline’s San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival in June. It is currently seeking distribution.