What if the future was now? What if now was the future?

A young man runs through an Athens marble quarry, before breaking out, or breaking down, in dance. It could be now, or in the future, or in ancient times (the marble for the Parthenon was collected at Athens’ Mount Penteli). In another scene, youngsters pull swords to hunt ostriches in the abandoned city. It is the year 2034, but the world of this short film, set to the music of musician, DJ, and record producer Surkin, feels remarkably familiar, as if we could as well be watching the lives of boys today.

“Neo surf” is one of three films created by innovative French filmmaker Romain Gavras and Surkin, with the support of Onassis Culture. The other two films, “Emotions,” set in Mumbai, and “Agartha,” set in Wyoming, are other dystopian presentations of a world in the not-so-distant future, equally eerie and with equally impressive audio. All three films are presented right now with the project title “Gener8ion” by the Onassis Cultural Center, until October 23. “Neo surf” is being screened in Exhibition Hall 1 and “Agartha” at the Upper Stage, while “Emotions” can be viewed at the Center’s new venue, The Mandra, on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street.

“It was my first time shooting in Greece, and I felt at home. With the support of Onassis Culture and my amazing Greek crew, we made something I could not have made anywhere else in the world built from images and locations of Greece I had in my mind since I was a child. Kids will be kids, doing kid’s thing and creating memories even if the world is dying,” Gavras, who was in Athens for the presentation of the short films and for the Netflix premier of his feature film, Athena, which was also screened at the Center on that day, said about the project.

Read more about the films here.