Be careful when a democracy is sick; fascism comes to its bedside, but it is not to inquire about its health. – Albert Camus

The Phantom of Liberty is a creative research process to deconstruct, assess and re-imagine concepts that form our current European democracy.

The main purpose of this documentary film series is to challenge the current polarised political psychology of Europe and discover anew the concepts  underlying democracy, which have slowly lost their meaning in today’s world.

The aim is to create another form of dialogue, a-non fanatical, self-critical process of intellectual understanding and to bring the arts into the picture as an essential companion to the intellectual dialogue.

And do all this in a way that makes a compelling performative and cinematic experience.

The project starts with a research process, based on interviews. This process aims to answer the main question: how can we discover the illusions weakening the contemporary democracy that is leading into authoritarians and populists rising around Europe? It asks what is the ‘phantom of democracy’ and starts to form new concepts for a new, updated future democracy that is realistic and strong option in technology driven economy and social order of today.

The performative and cinematic aim to achieve this derives from the base concept of a dialogue (intellectual and creative) as the form of fundamental exchange and human progress. The artistic foundation is inspired by the late works of Luis Buñuel, as the project combines explorations to the unconscious, alongside the social and  psychological level of human interaction.

For questions and inquiries, please contact: office (at) armascreative.fi