Issue

Aquatic Planet

April 2019

Seventy-one percent of the Earth's surface is water. Seventy-five percent of the human body is water. Water structures cities, nations, borders, where we can live, where we can't live, and our very survival in its most basic terms. In its various forms water is one of our most universal metaphors: for life, for change, and, conversely, for timelessness. The story of our changing climate is one of water: storms, droughts, ice, and shorelines. Water dictates the terms of the search for life, or habitable environments, beyond the Earth. It even encompasses last unexplored parts of our planet, in the depths of the ocean. The stories that may be told through and about water are an endless reservoir, a sea. Those that we present this month are but a drop in the bucket, but as varied as the geometries of snowflakes.

Slurb

FILM United States 2009
Marina Zurkow

The animated, carnivalesque tailgate party of Slurb loops and stutters like a vinyl record stuck in a groove. Slurb––a word that collapses "slum" and "suburb"––encapsulates a dreamy ode to the rise of slime, a watery future in which jellyfish have dominion.

Quantum Theater of the Aquatic

FILM United States 2017
Carolyn Turner

"Quantum Theatre of the Aquatic" is a short film composed of a poetic theatre of small shorts that explore the quantum nature of water, and an interplay between perspectives in art and science. Visual effects and illusions interact in ways that mimic superposition states in quantum mechanics. Quantu

A Very Wet Night at the Museum

FILM Croatia 2017
Milan Trenc

As Hector, a night guard at the Museum of Natural History rushes for work, he forgets to turn off the bathtub faucet and accidentally floods New York City. His daughter Melissa comes to rescue as museum exhibits come to life. The blue whale and the giant squid push the museum towards the open ocean.

A Delicate Balance

FILM United States 2018
Su Rynard

By looking closely at the common icicle physicist Stephen Morris reveals how science can be a powerful lens through which to view the mystery & beauty of everyday phenomena. Photographer Don Komarechka captures the amazing patterns of ice-bubbles.

Mama Qota

FILM Peru, United States 2017
Marianne Asher

Mama Qota is a seventeen minute documentary interviewing Aymaran men (native Peruvians) in thier own language (subtitles in English). These community representatives (the women wouldn't speak on camera) illuminate our understanding of how this culture relates to the lakes in thier home land as an ex

The Fisherman

FILM Australia 2016
Luke Saunders

In a diverse eco-system of mollusc like creatures, a late devoted scientist of these life forms has passed his life's work on to his daughter, along with his most prized discovery. 'The Fisherman' is set in a neo-tokyo cityscape where electricity is a source of life for a diverse eco-system of mollu

Fabula Rasa (Parades)

FILM France 2017
Sarah Arnold

Faced with the injustices of this world, Margot has lost all hope in the future. Giving up on politics, she decides to entrust her fate to the Dardu, a legendary carp that supposedly predicts the future. But the lake's rules have changed: fishing is now forbidden. Face aux injustices du monde, Margo

Drought

FILM Lithuania 2015
Balys Kumža Agnė Kupšytė

Drought is a stop motion animation short film. It is a universal story based in an abstract setting. Drought is a take on humanity, picking at our core values. The players are put in a concrete space, they are powerless over the influences of ever present forces, they are bound to act in unconscious

Alle de tranen (Every Tear)

FILM Belgium 2017
Sarah Vanagt

In the 17th century, Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek, a draper from Delft, begins to make glass lenses, in order to better study the quality of his textile. He melts, drips and grinds small beads of glass. His tiny lenses are so bright and have such magnifying power that the draper seems to have entered a ne

Eighth Continent

FILM Greece 2017
Yorgos Zois

In Lesvos island an old abandoned dump lies on a mountain with two big craters. The craters are overflown by thousands of life jackets from the refugee waves. A worker is the only inhabitant in this place that resembles an alien planet or a new continent.

My Haggan Dream

FILM Northern Mariana Islands, United States 2016
Laura Sams Rob Sams

On the island of Saipan, a young girl's mysterious dream about a haggan, or green sea turtle, leads her to investigate the sea turtles that live around her home. Join her adventure to find turtles, which leads to a wonderful birthday wish. Producers | Stephani Gordon, Laura Sams, Robert Sams Written

Dish Life

FILM United Kingdom 2016
Chloë Thomas

"It's like having thousands of pets!" Dish Life compares the task of raising stem cells in the lab to the challenge of looking after a gang of unruly kids. In conversation with real-life children, scientists show how tricky it is to work with these 'super cells'. Dish Life is the result of a collabo

Microcosmos (2016)

FILM USA 2016
Sally Warring

A busy drop of water showing some of the stunning diversity of the microbial world. Here there are many different types of ciliates, bacteria, flagellates and microscopic animals, all coexisting in a few microliters of water.

The Chemical House

FILM France 2016
Anne-laure Languille Eric Gayer

The chemical house: A watchful eye of the protection of our planet focussing on the study of the rivers. A movie from Anne-Laure Languille (Filmaker) & Eric Gayer (Scientist). Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Equipe Geochmie des Enveloppes Externe, Reseau des Bassins Vernats, IRSTEA Film prod

Turbulent

FILM Finland 2014
Perttu Inkilä

Turbulent is an experimental short film about microscopic randomness of nature, and vibration of sound and matter. It is inspired by the work of Dr. Hans Jenny, a physician who is considered the father of cymatics, the study of wave phenomena.

The Lost Mariner

FILM Netherlands 2014
Tess Martin

The Lost Mariner is an animated interpretation of Dr. Oliver Sacks' case study found in his book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. It uses photographs to visualize the rare memory condition of patient Jimmie G.

Laznia (Baths)

FILM Poland 2013
Tomek Ducki

Two old swimmers meet at the public baths for their ritual swimming session. This time they are diving deeper than usual. "Baths" is a short film about the dynamics of life based on a dualistic philosophy, constantly oscillating between two extremes: fantasy and reality, life and death, body and con

Dry Season

FILM USA 2015
Tyler Trumbo Max Good

Willits, an eclectic town two hours north of San Francisco, faces an uncertain future during California's worst drought in 500 years. With just a 100-day supply of water left, cooperation, conservation, and finger pointing all compete in a community made up of ranchers, back-to-the-landers, and mari