MODE. Director's Statement
“MODE” is the eighth film in the HUMAN CONCEPTS series, and by far the fastest of all. It is a high-speed, high-density visual experience designed to mirror the overwhelming pace of modern life. This film attempts to capture what it feels like to exist in a system that bombards us with constant stimuli: information, images, contradictions, etc. All the while demanding we keep up without ever questioning the cost. It's an aggressive, chaotic rhythm, and one that defines our times.
At its core, “MODE” is a critique of materialist society and the ways it manipulates our attention, habits, and desires. In this world, everyone is “on something.” To cope with the demands of everyday life, we turn to substances, behaviors, and distractions that blur the line between survival and sedation. Each frame in the film reflects a different kind of addiction: the sugar-driven energy of childhood, the caffeinated hustle of adulthood, the workaholism, the consumerist cycle of meaningless purchases, the drugs, the weed, the nicotine, the dopamine hits we chase on screens.
The film explores how these addictions, normalized and commercialized, have shaped the emotional structure of our generation. They are the tools we use to endure, but they also feed our anxiety, our disconnection, and our collective frustration. That tension, felt across social and economic lines, eventually boils over. Toward the climax of “MODE”, we enter a phase of unrest, where civil disobedience erupts. Protests, noise, and chaos rise from the ashes of burnout, as people begin to push back against the very system that raised and consumed them.
Visually, “MODE” moves fast. Too fast, perhaps. Many of the images flash for only fractions of a second, but every one of them has meaning. They’re symbolic representations of modern addictions and emotional states, and the intention is for viewers to come back to the film more than once, discovering new layers each time. It’s a film meant to be experienced in pieces, like a remix of contemporary life. Fragmented, loud, and full of contradictions.
Making this film was a way for me to process the overstimulation that surrounds us, and the exhausting pace we’ve come to accept as normal. Through the chaos, I hope viewers find moments that feel personal and true. Moments that reflect their own ways of coping, resisting, or simply surviving.
Thank you for watching. May this film spark a pause in the rush.
From Costa Rica with love,
Andrés