Infinite Monkeys

Roel van Beek received a grant for developing a new film. Infinite Monkeys will be a philosophical animated film about finding meaning in a universe where uniqueness does not exist. When a group of astronauts is forced to make an emergency landing on an unknown planet, they are horrified to discover it is identical to Earth in every way: the people are exactly the same, as are the flora and fauna, and even time runs synchronously down to the millisecond. The astronauts hesitate about returning. After all, they could seamlessly resume their lives here. But the longer they wander this duplicate world, the more it gnaws at them: if everything is the same, why does everything feel so different?

Roel is a Dutch animated film director. After studying at the Netherlands Film Academy, he graduated from the National Film and Television School in the United Kingdom. His graduation film, A Film About a Pudding (2021), premiered at Annecy, was nominated for an Annie Award, longlisted for a BAFTA, and won multiple international awards. His subsequent film, Sensory Itch (2022), supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, was selected for the Guanajuato International Film Festival, PÖFF Tallinn Black Nights, and the London International Animation Festival.