The Centrifuge Brain Project
2012 · 7m · Germany
Directed by Till Nowak
Genres: comedy, experimental, satire
Tones: absurdist, humorous, surreal
A deadpan mockumentary in which Chief Engineer Dr. Nick Laslowicz of the fictional Institute for Centrifugal Research explains a series of increasingly absurd, physics-defying amusement park rides built to expand human cognitive capacity through centrifugal force.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
The mockumentary format is the obvious move here, but Nowak weaponizes photorealistic CGI to make the absurd feel *credible*—a deadpan doc about rides that violate physics becomes genuinely disorienting precisely because your brain can't dismiss it as animation. Most filmmakers would wink; he just stares straight ahead, and that's where the subversion lives.
The film's lineage traces clearly to experimental documentary and Errol Morris's deadpan epistemology—using the apparatus of scientific authority to smuggle in the surreal—but what distinguishes it is the restraint; the talking head and the CGI never break character, sustaining a formal contract with the viewer that makes the impossible feel like archival fact.
The singular choice here is the decision to present impossible physics through *photorealistic* CGI rather than stylized or obviously fake rendering—that commitment to visual authenticity, paired with Dr. Laslowicz's unwavering delivery, is what makes the absurdity land with such unsettling weight, transforming a premise that could be cute into something genuinely uncanny.
Reviews
One of my favorite films of 2012.
An amazing short film.
Incredible and worth watching.
Festivals
- Filmfestival Münster 2011, Audience Award
- San Sebastián Horror and Fantasy Film Festival 2011, Jury Award for Best Short Film
- Deutscher Kurzfilmpreis 2012, Outstanding Short Film
- Aspen Shortsfest 2012, Jury Award for Best Short Film