Set to premiere at SXSW later this month, Jaco Bouwer’s Gaia is about a park ranger who discovers a man and his son living wild in an ancient forest, and (according to the film’s promotional material) a secret that is about to change the world.

The new trailer, below, showcases some remarkable visuals and a concept that looks to run deeper than what’s presented at face value. Check it out, and stay tuned for more on Gaia throughout the 2021 SXSW film festival.

On a surveillance mission in a primordial forest, a park ranger encounters two survivalists following a post-apocalyptic lifestyle. The boy and his philosophical father seem to have their own religion, and a mysterious relationship to nature. There are many suspicious aspects to their existence, but when the cabin is attacked by strange, post-human beings one night, she learns that there is a greater threat in this emergent wilderness. GAIA is an ecological horror fantasy which engages the burning issues of our time.