New York, 1905. Visionary inventor Nikola Tesla makes one last appeal to J.P. Morgan, his onetime benefactor. The Tesla World Light is a tragic fantasy about the father of alternating current, inspired by real events such as the inventor’s run of bad luck as a businessman and his affection for a pet bird, which he loves “like a man loves a woman.” Tesla’s words to the banker form the backdrop of this moving film about the man who blended science and art in his attempts to create the utopia of unlimited energy for all.
Filmmaker Matthew Rankin (Mynarski Death Plummet) works as much in the tradition of experimental cinema as in animated documentary. He uses an aesthetic reminiscent of the early 20th-century European avant-garde, to electrifying effect. A luminous and deeply original world unfolds around Tesla, bursting with bright ideas. The film resonates with feverish energy, culminating in a spectacular finale that is both a vision of horror and a creative epiphany—an explosive homage to Tesla’s incandescent genius and his towering position as a symbol of modernity.