SILBERSALZ Festival 2025

<p>A fictional mythological movie about the birth and death of our planet. The movie shows things happening on the planet through the eyes of two naive god figures; a wild girl who has the power of creation, and a shy boy who has the power of destruction. This is not a fight between &ldquo;bad&rdquo; and &ldquo;good&rdquo;, but a game between two equal parts to find harmony, which seems to work well until a new issue enters the story: the human race.</p>

<p>An architect picks ripe cherry tomatoes from a small garden by the window, preparing a lunchbox for work. Eco-energy flows from the tomato vines&mdash;an invisible force born from small acts of environmental care.</p>

<p>After a local factory worker named Dorem Clery dies under mysterious circumstances, Werner Herzog travels to Getunkirchenburg to investigate his perplexing death. But Herzog, our narrator, is not who he seems, and the film is not what we expect.</p>

<p>Renato dares to capture a lightning bolt in a jar! He races against time, with each storm revealing the mysteries of nature and the power of love.</p>

<p>In a post-apocalyptic world, when humans are long gone, a little robot finds a way to spread hope through his love of music.</p>

<p>When residents of a remote Siberian city discover an abandoned coal mine has caught fire beneath their neighborhood, pushing toxic gas into their homes, they turn to homemaker-turned-journalist Natalia Zubkova for help.</p>

<p>Hunting season has begun. A family of capybaras seeks refuge in a chicken coop, but the hens don&#39;t trust them. The curiosity of the youngest members of the families will create a union with unexpected consequences.</p>

<p>Open a bottle of climate anxiety. Pour the contents into a hot pot under high pressure. Then add a teaspoon of horror, a tablespoon of anger and three drops of deep disappointment in humanity. Let it all come to a boil while you invite a group of scientific researchers who don&rsquo;t know each other, but know all about the fact that the end of the world is near. Let the scientists spice up the dish with their most suppressed feelings about climate change and the future of the planet. And last but not least, bring in a professional group therapist who isn&rsquo;t afraid of an awkward silence to get them to sit in a circle and share their feelings with each other.</p>

<p>Dendelion, Baraban, L&eacute;onto and Taraxa, four dandelion achenes rescued from nuclear explosions that destroyed the Earth, find themselves projected into the cosmos. After landing on an unknown planet, they start searching for a suitable soil to perpetuate their species. But they will have to overcome the elements, the fauna, the flora and the changing climate.</p> <p>Rescued from Earth&#39;s nuclear annihilation, four friends crash-land on an unknown planet and courageously set out to locate a new home capable of sustaining their species.</p>

<p>Join showman extraordinaire &quot;The Great Schiaparelli&quot; as he takes the audience on a death-defying space-time adventure within his wondrous Observatorium. From the sun-scorched surface of Mercury to the icy expanses of Pluto and beyond, prepare to be subjected to the myriad dangers and wonders of our Solar System, on a breathtaking tour that reveals just how precious our home planet really is. Be warned though, the Observatorium isn&rsquo;t just for show. It will transport the audience right to the heart of some of the deadliest locations in our slice of the heavens. It&rsquo;s going to take some fancy flying to get everyone back in one piece!</p>

<p>In this desi-futuristic sci-fi, a documentarian investigates the abandoned droids in the New Jersey Exclusion Zone and their peculiar obsession with a subversive Bengali Renaissance poet.</p>

<p>How can exploding batteries, bowling showdowns, and electrifying animations help us understand how batteries work? Energy to Spare shows how scientists are revolutionizing battery technology for the renewable energy age.</p>

<p>A mesmerizing journey through the quantum realm, where complex theories become a breathtaking sensory experience. ENTANGLEMENT:DOME is a dazzling work created by France Jobing and Markus Heckmann that distills quantum physics theories into a swooping sensorial experience. It interprets the concept of entanglement: when two or more particles link up, and no matter how far apart they are in space, their states remain linked. It is an uncanny phenomenon in quantum physics, one that defies explanations.</p>

<p>An extraterrestrial duo crosses the universe to share technological insights with less brilliant minds. On one peculiar planet, things don&#39;t quite go as planned.</p>

<p>This six‑part wildlife documentary series explores Europe&#39;s richest and most remarkable habitats&mdash;from icy Svalbard and Azorean seas to dense forests, mountain peaks, rivers, and urban ecosystems. Featuring rare and newly observed species such as blue whales, European hamsters, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx, Persian leopard, genets, wolverines, polar bears, golden eagles, and more, the series reveals the continent&rsquo;s hidden biodiversity through stunning cinematography and new‑to‑science behaviors captured over 1,000 filming days in nearly 30 countries</p>

<p>The supermarket is nearing its closing time, and the last customers are queuing for their turn at the fish counter. The agonizing wait offers a chance for existential reflection and a little song.</p>

<p>Everyone is searching for great love. But in doing so, are we perhaps overlooking friendship? Science shows that friendship is an extraordinary force. It shapes our identity, strengthens our well-being, and even has the potential to extend our lives. But what determines with whom we become friends? Why do friends become almost magnetic during adolescence? And: does friendship still stand a chance in times of growing loneliness and digitalization&mdash;or is it precisely the glue that holds us together?</p>

<p>In a world where a number around people&#39;s necks indicates their current happiness level from 0 to 99, two former lovers bump into each other again at the obligatory annual happiness survey. Seeing each other happy (or unhappy), they question each other&#39;s feelings and their own past choices. Perhaps they were wrong to break up and could be happy again... together?</p>

<p>The androids Clu and Lia work in a retro-futuristic ice cream parlor. Recently, their coworker self-destructed after eating raspberry ice cream. Ice-cream-selling android Clu clings to his broken friend, while Lia wants a replacement as quickly as possible.</p>

<p>Around 1.8 million people in Germany currently live with dementia. In an increasingly ageing society, dementia has long been one of the greatest medical and social challenges. In his new documentary, Dr Eckart von Hirschhausen embarks on a deeply personal quest for answers, as dementia has also affected his own family.</p>

<p>An invisible but omnipresent enemy, plastic is now inside us. Every day, all over the world, scientists are discovering how these particles insidiously colonize our bodies, from placenta to breast milk. A deep dive into the heart of ongoing research into the toxicity of plastics, which also raises questions about the future of our species. Is Homo sapiens about to become Homo plasticus?</p>

<p>Piglet and Cow are having a blast ice-skating on a frozen lake, when suddenly a strange beast cracks the ice beneath them!</p>

<p>How Deep is Your Love, follows intrepid biologists exploring the mysterious deep sea, where 70% of our planet lies hidden. As they uncover mesmerizing creatures and ecosystems thriving in darkness, a looming threat emerges: the prospect of deep-sea mining in this untouched wilderness. This film weaves wonder with urgency, challenging us to balance the drive for resources with the intrinsic value of an ecosystem. As we journey through this breathtaking realm, we are left to ponder how deep is our love.</p>

<p>Interplay is a 2025 short documentary directed by Sanne Rovers, featuring malaria researcher Teun Bousema. The film follows Bousema and his team in northern Uganda as they investigate the malaria parasite&#39;s life cycle, focusing on how humans infect mosquitoes. Utilizing simple tools like petri dishes and vacuum cleaners, they confront the parasite&#39;s mutations and the looming threat of drug resistance. The documentary showcases the relentless scientific efforts against this adaptable adversary.</p>

<p>They live on land or under the sea. They are covered with feathers, scales, leaves or hair. In spite of their distinct characteristics, they share the same secret power&hellip; fluorescence! Some creatures are gifted with such &ldquo;magical&rdquo; power that is in fact more widespread that one might think. Indeed, all around us, animals, plants and minerals shimmer! If this phenomenon is invisible to our eyes, it plays a key role in the survival, predation or reproduction of these living beings. This series invites us to dive into the respective universe of different fluorescent species - from the spider to the jellyfish, through the Clerodendrum - and to examine their particular behaviors.</p>

<p>As millions die each year from superbug infections, a Chilean scientist makes it her mission to find new antibiotics in the salt lakes of the Atacama Desert. Through microscopic imagery and staggering vistas of the landscape, we take in the urgency of the scientist&rsquo;s work and the scale of the battle as lithium mining poses a serious threat to the region&rsquo;s delicate ecosystem.</p>

<p>A frustrated couple in their 50&rsquo;s resorts to a sex robot as a final attempt to salvage their crumbling marriage, unwittingly uncovering the very fractures that damaged it in the first place.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">A poetic exploration of three subterranean telescopes in remote regions of Canada, Japan, and Antarctica that reveal a new way of perceiving the universe from within. Underground, we are dreaming into the earth.</p> <p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">&lsquo;Messengers&rsquo; was shot in cooperation with the groundbreaking particle physics collaborations SNO+ (Canada), Super Kamiokande (Japan), and IceCube (Antarctica). As each surreal subterranean facility is explored in order of physical size, the film gradually reveals how these environments not only intersect with the natural world, but can also be seen as extensions of the unconscious mind &ndash; monuments to our questions about the universe. Following the journey of neutrinos from a black hole, &lsquo;Messengers&rsquo; serves as a tactile meditation on human scientific endeavour, the vastness of geologic time, and the shadowy depths of the unconscious.</p>

<p>When the astronaut Celeste blasts off into space on her first solo mission, the guardian robot that has accompanied her throughout her childhood is left alone to wonder: What now? A tomorrow-days lullaby about finding your place in the universe.</p>

<p>&quot;Neuro&quot; begins with a brief, dream-like glimpse at the wedding of both Julie and Peter. In their hotel room that night, Peter suffers a seizure which creates an unfortunate rift between the newlyweds. After an introduction to Neuro via a period-accurate documentary, the two await their procedure. Despite voicing his skepticism, Peter agrees to proceed with the treatment, however, another seizure interrupts the process. This leads to an incomplete procedure for Peter as he discovers the darker side to the company and it&#39;s history.</p>

<p>Park Assist is an absurdist grounded sci-fi short about an android that tests its brand new human park assist system in an old parking lot. While the PA&#39;s beep their hearts out and gasp for breath, the android remains determined to park its old-timer precisely right. No matter what.</p>

<p>This is a bittersweet story about a small Beetle called Peter, who has a dream to perform in front of the big crowd at the Zoo. He leaves home to make his dream come true. Unfortunately, he is not noticed by the people due to his small size&hellip; All is well that ends well - back at home he finds his audience on his own size.</p>

<p>On July 25, 2020, the bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground on the reef on the east coast of Mauritius. The local fishing community, for whom the sea was everything, waited in vain for an official salvage operation as oil gushed from the disintegrating wreck, spreading to every corner of the lagoon and up the waterways. This lyrical, beautifully drawn animation, with commentary from those who witnessed this disaster, pays tribute to the Mauritians who united to save their precious environment.</p>

<p>A new app that tracks each global citizen&rsquo;s CO2 emissions seems harmless&mdash;until people find out what happens when they reach their limit.</p>

<p>Do we have to get dirty before becoming green? The Green Deal, Europe&rsquo;s new growth strategy, is Brussels&#39; recipe to save the planet from climate collapse. By pushing electric cars and renewables, the EU believes it can promote economic growth while protecting the planet. But is that even possible? Green technologies require many critical metals that are supplied mainly by China. To reduce dependencies, EU-politicians are in favour of opening &ldquo;green&rdquo; mines in Europe. But people living in those areas are worried that their lives will be sacrificed for the energy transition. This is the case of Hector, a Spanish farmer, and two indigenous reindeer herders in Northern Sweden, Matti and Karin Niia. They are all determined to fight against these projects. Meanwhile resource expert Diego Marin is travelling across Europe on a mission for an NGO to find out if mining can ever really be sustainable.</p>

<p>A collaboration between visual artist Yannick Mor&eacute;teau and electronic music composer Flore, Sensitive Abstraction is an artistic performance that explores the relationship between the arts and mathematics. Conceived as a stroll through different graphic and sound environments, Sensitive Abstraction is a full-dome immersive creation accompanied by a spatial soundtrack. Like a synaesthetic saunter through a series of moving tableaux, in turn minimalist, figurative, surrealist and playful, Sensitive Abstraction reveals and questions the influence of major mathematical concepts in the field of music and the arts, revealing their poetry, their tangible manifestations and their aesthetic modernity.</p>

<p>In the backstreets of the ancient city of Peshawar in North East Pakistan, a team of armed security guards gather in the morning light. Their mission is to protect Ishrat Rahim and her female colleagues - health workers on a mission to vaccinate the city&rsquo;s children against Polio. Ishrat is one of almost 400,000 women working across Pakistan and if she and her team can succeed, it could finally rid the world of this dreaded disease.</p>

<p>Claudie is passionate about her unusual job: scanning the cosmos for signs of extraterrestrial life, hoping to make contact. Completely absorbed in her mission, she gradually loses touch with those around her, and even reality itself could fade away.</p>

<p>Aaron Blaise is a living legend in animation, capturing the beauty and complexities of the natural world in his work for more than 30 years. From the start of his career at Walt Disney Feature Animation, he brought to life iconic characters in films that include Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Lion King (1994), and Pocahontas (1995). He made his feature directorial debut with Brother Bear (2003), a film that displayed his special bond with animals and received a Best Animated Feature Oscar&reg; nomination. For the last 12 years, he has shared his wisdom with the next generation of artists and storytellers at his renowned online art school, Creature Art Teacher. Snow Bear, a gorgeous 2D hand-drawn passion project that he created over three years almost entirely on his own, is Aaron&rsquo;s latest project. Along with screening the short, he will also offer a behind-the-scenes look at his filmmaking process, answer questions, and lead us in a drawing activity inspired by the film. &mdash;Keith Zw&ouml;lfer</p>

<p>Ebola, Marburg, Nipah, COVID-19, and now avian flu &ndash; the list of deadly viruses jumping from animals to humans keeps on growing. Despite the long coexistence of these pathogens and humans, why are these spillover events becoming alarmingly frequent? What role do our actions play in triggering these outbreaks? The gripping documentary SPILLOVER embarks on a global journey to uncover the answers, offering an urgent and eye-opening look at the origins of some of the world&#39;s deadliest viruses.</p>

<p>Teenstar Dilemma: The Journey of the Lochmann Twins is an intimate coming-of-age story about Heiko and Roman Lochmann, two brothers known as Die Lochis, as they learn to break away from their former role models.</p>

<p>Join Hannah Emde at the other end of the world! New Zealand is home to animals that cannot be found anywhere else. However, since humans first settled on the islands, these animals have been in danger. Some species, such as the giant bird moa, have become extinct. Others, such as the kiwi, are fighting for survival. The blame lies with the predators introduced by humans: martens, cats and rats prey on New Zealand&#39;s native fauna. New Zealand has a radical plan: the country wants to become predator-free and eradicate all introduced predators. Is this really a good idea? Wildlife veterinarian Hannah Emde travels through New Zealand&#39;s breathtaking landscapes in search of the answer. However, this alone is not enough to simply explore the animal world. Everything is interconnected.</p>

<p>The debate about nuclear power is back, however the elephant in the room is hardly ever mentioned. Whether it&#39;s a phase-out or a re-entry, one question remains: Where to bury the highly radioactive waste?</p>

<p>Astronomers look through telescopes and see that the universe has a structure &mdash; it&rsquo;s shaped like a web. Slime mold researchers look through microscopes and see that the tiny organisms form similar patterns. In their quest of discovering the nature of things, they both show the beauty of curiosity.</p>

<p>A filmmaker facing up to the twilight of his career sets out to use his camera skills to decipher the relationship between a million seabirds and a single hunting falcon. Ultimately his cinematic portrait of this &ldquo;cosmic event&rdquo; provides crucial insights into the mechanisms of the natural world and the difficulties of coming to terms with the end of a life well-lived.</p>

<p>Single channel digital video,</p> <p>b&amp;w, 5:09 mins</p> <p>The Equilibrists of the film are patient and surprising exemplars of the lessons to be learnt from scrutinising the elementary principles of physics. Here familiar feats of balance and curious games combine with the didactic serving as a reminder of the patience, delicacy and balance essential for stability. An accompanying booklet transfers the film&#39;s subject matter, look and feel to the printed page (see publications)</p>

<p>The story of a brilliant ecologist with a plan to save the world by restoring the planet&rsquo;s forests. His original work was hijacked by corporations and politicians with disastrous effect. Now he&rsquo;s using science to fight back.</p>

<p>As he walks down a road, a lonely traveler meets a very strange seed that can talk ! Trapped on a dry soil full of rocks, the seed begs him for help, she needs a fine place to grow. The traveler agrees, and so begins their journey.</p>

<p>Set in a time of extreme energy poverty, one man struggles to support his ailing husband. A story of humanity in a future we can change.</p>

<p>Qian Xiao, a girl from a humble fishing village, comes into possession of the &quot;Time Dial&quot; after an accidental ship collision. This mysterious device grants her the ability to control time but also draws the attention of a powerful organization determined to hunt her down. As Qian Xiao uses the Time Dial to evade her relentless pursuers, she encounters Seventeen, a member of the criminal organization. Their initial clash turns into an unexpected camaraderie as they embark on whimsical adventures in the bustling city.</p>

<p>Once upon a time there was a little girl who was always distracted. With her eyes fixed on her phone, she couldn&#39;t notice the world around or who wanted to play with her.</p>

<p>On a street corner in the city, a heap of dumped garbage surrounds two garbage containers. An old mattress begins to speak sadly: &ldquo;They say I&rsquo;m dirty&hellip;&rdquo; Other pieces of garbage join in, sharing the reasons why they have been discarded. Then, a newspaper is picked up by the wind and seems to dance in the spotlight of a streetlamp. Inspired, the waste begins to see themselves positively. Their enthusiasm evolves into a spectacle of song and dance.</p>

<p>In the 1970s, Satish Bhaskar became a turtle walker: He walked nearly the entire coastline of India and the spectacular Andaman and Nicobar Islands in search of sea turtles. Carrying a camera and a notepad, he documented turtles&rsquo; nesting areas and tried to save them from extinction. Then the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami struck, putting all his work and the creatures he loved in peril.</p>

<p>Embarking on an international journey to understand, what one can really expect from a substance that is credited with nothing less than the success of the world&rsquo;s energy transition, the film follows the origin and dynamic of the development, which surrounds this highly promoted future technology and shows how important a global perspective in this transformation process is.</p>

<p>A polar bear and a penguin who lose their home to rising sea levels. With nowhere else to go, they swim across the ocean, searching for a new place to settle. But they&#39;ve never lived outside their icy world, and adapting to unfamiliar surroundings isn&rsquo;t easy, especially when nowhere seems eager to welcome them. Eventually, they meet each other at a small, cozy island with the perfect house&hellip; except there&#39;s already a dog living there. Of course, neither of them is willing to give it up. As they battle over the house, the water keeps rising higher.</p>

<p>Elizabeth Sankey&rsquo;s deeply personal documentary examines the relationship between the cinematic portrayals of witches and the all-too-real experiences of postpartum depression by utilizing footage that spans the entirety of film history alongside heartrending personal testimony.</p>

<p>2009, Brazil. During a news broadcast in the Amazon, a reporter asks a young Indigenous woman what her wish for the future is. The woman,&nbsp;<strong>Juma Xipaia</strong>, smiles and replies, &ldquo;Fighting for the indigenous cause. Standing up for my people, who mean everything to me in this life. I live for them and die for them. My life is going to be one of struggle.&rdquo; Years later, Juma has asserted herself as a determined environmental warrior &mdash; the first female Indigenous chief of her people in the Middle Xingu &mdash; and a fearless advocate against exploitation by landowners and multinational corporations. Having survived six assassination attempts, Juma continues her steadfast commitment to her community and her fight against the seizing of Indigenous lands, as the political landscape in Brazil shifts from Bolsonaro-era suppression to President Lula&rsquo;s progressive environmental battles. The more fiercely outspoken Juma is &mdash; alongside her husband Hugo, a Special Forces Unit ranger &mdash; the starker the socio-political conflict becomes. The courageous Juma and Hugo navigate dangerous circumstances while coming to terms with becoming expecting parents, furthering the stakes for their livelihoods and the livelihood of Indigenous people.&nbsp;</p> <p>From producer&nbsp;<strong>Leonardo DiCaprio</strong>&nbsp;and director&nbsp;<strong>Richard Ladkani</strong>, the riveting&nbsp;<em>YANUNI</em>&nbsp;unfolds like a tense thriller and with remarkable access, as it kinetically showcases the risks that Indigenous activists incur in their fight for sovereignty and environmental justice.&mdash;Jose Rodriguez</p>

<p>Written and filmed during Russia&rsquo;s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Pavlo Ostrikov&rsquo;s debut feature is a true wonder and a prescient reminder how important it is to connect with someone who understands during the darkest of times.</p>