above / below

above / below, parts 1-3 proposes a para-science-fictional account of the February 4, 2023 China balloon incident, with key changes to the events in question. When the balloon is struck down off the coast of South Carolina, instead of being recovered by the U.S. military, it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. The weight of the ocean crushes and breaks down the balloon, its solar panels, antennas, and sensors. The balloon fragments drift into the depths of the ocean, where a massive cold-water-coral mound of Lophelia Pertusa has begun to spawn. When the coral larvae settle on the remnants of the balloon, a part-artificial-part-biological cyborgian coral reef comes into being. With each new piece of data the cyborganism collects, it comes to understand the extent of the anthropogenic threat to its ecosystem. Meanwhile, scientists mapping the southeastern Atlantic Ocean start to detect a signal coming from the deep. Due to the Exclusive Economic Zone, any coastal nation has sovereign rights to the 200 nautical miles from land–to explore, exploit, conserve, or manage the natural resources of the seabed, subsoil, and waters above it. The U.S. military establishes a perimeter around the source of the mysterious signal, unaware that they will find an extensive network of coral reefs that are able to detect them, in turn.

in-progress
single-channel film