Issue

Symbiotic Affairs

October 2021

Symbiosis is very common in life. We are all a collection or micro/macro organisms that seemingly form one; these fusions enable cooperativity and survival. In many ways, the symbiotic phenomena describe our mission. We strive for more organic fusions. We truly believe that symbiotic relationships propel new changes in science and help solve the urgent issues that our generations and those to come are facing. Symbiosis implies mutual and equal collaborations rather than hierarchical ones. We are witnessing a climate crisis, animal extinction and ramping skepticism and denialism around scientific thought. Recently, the coronavirus has led to an overall world crisis and the media has not always done an effective job at communicating accurate science. We need more than ever science communicators and storytellers, especially those that can use the power of visuals and film to calm global panic, educate the larger public, inspire new decisive actions. The Symbiosis initiative is a unique incubator bringing together invited scientists and filmmakers who are paired to create science films during the length of the one-week Imagine Science Film Festival.

Stuck in the Past

FILM USA 2016
Javier Diez Moiya McTier

Stuck in the Past explains the nature of the photon and how it influences the life. We travel through New York from past, present, and future accompanied by your guide and astrophysicist student Moiya McTier Made as part of the Imagine Science Symbiosis Film Competition 2016

COLORCONDITION

FILM USA 2016
Jason Chew Rodrigo Valles

Color Condition is a glimpse into the sensory overlap experienced by someone with the neural condition, synesthesia. Synesthetics have an overlapping sensory modality in which stimulation of one sense involuntarily, and simultaneously, triggers another. However, the scientific explanation does littl

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Nanodoctor

FILM United Kingdom, United States 2020
Tim Grabham Felipe Cardoso

Nanodoctor - iterations 1 to 3' is an imaginary promotional film from the near future explaining the migration of information inside living organisms through molecules, and how the real time monitoring of those molecules will allow the diagnosis and rapid resolution of a crisis inside the human body

What about the nose?

FILM USA 2019
Anna Lindemann Albana Kodra

What happens when you smell something? This whimsical look at olfaction follows the journey of a smell through the nose. A film by Anna Lindemann and Albana Kodra as part of the Imagine Science Symbiosis Competition Animation by Anna Lindemann. Illustration by Ziael Ponte. Microscopy by Albana Kodra

Arabidopsis thaliana

FILM USA 2016
Toma Peiu Nicholas DelRose

Arabidopsis thaliana juxtaposes the implications of injury, development and regeneration for plants, humans and cities, with a nod to one of the most popular plant model organisms in biology and genetics. Narrated by Selima Smith-Dell Cinematography by Toma Peiu & Luiza Pârvu Microscope imager

All We Are

FILM United States 2019
Julia Van Etten Marleine van der Werf

Every life form originated from the same cells billions of years ago. First there was one cell that formed colonies, which became group of colonies that evolved into all kinds of species like trees, insects, giraffes and humans. All is connected, moves together and reacts to each other. There is no

Empty Space

FILM USA 2015
Steve Gong Zephyr Peynore

Steve believes that everything is Science, and that lines drawn between disciplines are man-made. He studied biology and psychology at the University of Virginia before pursuing graduate studies in photojournalism at the University of the Arts London. Steve's film "Pyongyang Style" was broadcast aro

In Between We Are

FILM United States 2017
Giulia Grossmann Ramin Rahni

From ashes to the milky way, the identity of earth is somewhere in between, a hybrid of the two. What difference do you see between these ashes and the dust of the Milky Way? This film navigates between different textures that are part of nature: water, roots, tree bark. Because of the disparate sca

Wearing Well

FILM United States 2018
Markos Kay Enrico Milanese

Wearing well is a collaboration between Enrico Milanese, Researcher in Computational Solid Mechanics and Markos Kay, Computational Artist. The film visually reimagines Milanese's research whereby the microscopic effects of contact and wear between materials are studied through the use of high-perfor

Symbiont

FILM USA 2016
Sydney Clara Brafman Sally Warring

A scientist gets absorbed in his lab work and is suddenly attacked by a plant-like symbiotic life. Produced by: Squib Films, Tiny Terrors Editor: Sydney Clara Brafman, Dan Sabatini Composer: AA/K/AA/R/A Assistant Director: Alison Irvine Director of Photography: Jesse Locascio Sound Recordist: Zach T

Exchange (2015)

FILM USA 2015
Danielle Parsons Ravi Sheth

Exchange is a visual and informative illustration of air as the common bond between photosynthetic and respiratory organisms. The exchange of gases in the air -- carbon dioxide for oxygen, and oxygen for carbon dioxide -- between plants and animals is the most fundamental symbiosis on the planet.

Endomic (2020)

FILM United States 2020
Camille Hollett-French Ipek Ensari

It might not even exist at all. An exhaustive meta-analytic review documenting a mysterious "women's issue," otherwise known as endometriosis.1 1term used to describe a clinical etiology that thus far has only been identified in primates with a female reproductive system, an anatomical structure of

Nematodes

FILM United States 2017
Peter Burr Alexandra Grote

Some parasitic nematodes have an endosymbiosic relationship with the bacteria Wolbachia. In Nematodes , we reconstruct this symbiotic relationship and break it down, finding ourselves at the model's writhing core. Network Reconstruction Of Nematode Symbionts By Peter Burr & Alexandra Grote Sound Des

Spectrum (2016)

FILM USA 2016
Cidney Hue Matt Ahearn

A journey through the electromagnetic spectrum~ Created in one week with scientist Matt Ahearn for Imagine Science's 2016 Symbiosis Film Competition. Cinematography by Nona Catusanu & Cidney Hue Narrated by Lauren Sowa Starring Big Hair Girls: Lizzy Lightyear & Venus + Matt Ahrean as Scientist Cosmi

air (verb)

FILM USA 2015
Lilian Mehrel Jinelle Wint

How different is one species from the next? How can we distinguish body from mind? In Lilian Mehrel's short film, air is expressed as a verb – to breathe / to air out. Mehrel drew her inspiration from molecular biology, water creatures, the connection between living things, and the importance

I, Cloud

FILM United States 2017
Brett Ryan Bonowicz Campbell Watson

A cloud has a phenomenological discussion with itself. Where a cloud ends and "the cloud" begins is a place not for the faint hearted. A journey into the science and philosophy of the nature of our relationship to clouds today. Created for the Symbiosis competition at the 10th Annual Imagine Science