It always happens this way. You see something completely mesmerizing with your naked eye and when you try to capture it on film, video or in a photo, it never does it justice. In the case of Toward a fundamental theory of physics, director Victor Van Rossem attempts to recreate the Time-Slice camera’s methods and shows time and light as raw materials. The only thing is, even though it has been displayed to the world through three-dimensional 16mm print, it may not be possible to truly show the world these objects of light.
It was in the 1980s when art student Tim Macmillan worked out the concept of what is now known as the Time-Slice camera. Using 293 lenses and a circular rig, the Time-Slice camera is a device able to take multiple photos of the same object at various places in time at the same moment. Years later, during an artistic residency at Art Cinema OFFoff in Ghent, Belgium, Van Rossen reinterpreted the original Time-Slice camera into this 16mm three-dimensional experimental short. In toward a fundamental theory of physics, a three-dimensional tactile exploration of time and light is offered to its audience through raw materials and fundamental paradoxes of cinema. A reminiscence of physics and experimenting, this short film creates a display of light-objects that are at once spectral and tangibly present.
A filmed experience, that is what Van Rossen has created. As a viewer you are not asked to think or learn anything from this short. You are simply exposed to this beautiful machine at work. Whether or not the viewer enjoys what they see is up to the individual, as toward a fundamental theory of physics is not made for everyone. Having previously studied the sciences, this short experiment is quite magical to witness. To truly understand how it was done, however, is another profound level of thought.
When watching toward a fundamental theory of physics, it feels as though it was made to demonstrate to people around the world what you would get to experience should you have been there in person. The idea to use a 360-degree camera rig to show this exploration of time and light allows the audience to see more of what is being filmed than had a regular camera just been used. That being said, it can become difficult to truly wrap one’s head around the idea of how Van Rossem accomplished. It becomes a requirement for the viewer to decide how to interpret what they are seeing and whether they will truly be able to understand it is a mystery.
But perhaps that is the point. Even though the concept of light and time enters the realm of physics, there is something magical about what we witness. Something that cannot be understood that provides an element of entertainment to this experimental short film. Instead of leaving us alone with light we are given things to think about, should we so wish.
Toward a fundamental theory of physics had its US premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival on Wednesday October 8, 2025, as part of the Currents Program 5: Fields of Vision. Though we may not ever understand it, there is no denying that what you see on screen is mesmerizingly beautiful.
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