As these industries extract and refine the planet’s ancient mineral wealth, they have not only driven technological progress and economic growth that we rely on, but also forged a global network of trade, linking distant regions through the exchange of metals and resources. These processes have reshaped how our societies function, and culture operates. Not a moment goes by without us benefiting from this matter that is excavated from deep underground. These desires of ours change landscapes, disrupt ecosystems, and accelerate natural geological changes on a planetary scale. Spectral Matter underscores humanity’s profound ability to transform the Earth, tracing the complicated connections between local actions and global consequences, and illuminating the entanglement between human desire and the planet’s geological history.

The film was shot inside and around Pyhasalmi Mine, which is Europe’s deepest metal mine, and is situated in Northern Finland.