Auen and Walker's 'Chronovisor' Delivers a Library-Lover’s Dream of Haunted Academia

Jack Auen and Kevin Walker’s feature debut, 'Chronovisor', arrived in limited U.S. release after generating buzz at the Rotterdam festival. The story centers on Beatrice, a French scholar of philosophy and neuroscience at Columbia, portrayed by real-life academic Anne-Laure Sellier, who becomes obsessed with the supposed Chronovisor—a 1970s invention claimed by Italian monk Pellegrino Ernetti to capture video from any past moment.

As she pursues the device’s myth through dusty archives and European contacts, the film blends scholarly intrigue with time-travel speculation and Vatican conspiracy motifs. Visually, Leo Zhang’s 16mm lens captures the glow of isolated lamps in research rooms, while the soundtrack fuses Gustav Holst’s orchestral themes with Gregorian chant. Textual overlays trace Beatrice’s reading of forgotten volumes, immersing the audience in the tactile pleasure of library research. The result is a niche, cult-ready mystery that showcases the directors’ talent for mixing genre elements with academic authenticity.