AFO 56th Edition - 2021

Agalma (2020)

Doriana Monaco

Italian director Doriana Monaco's documentary debut is an atmospheric introspection into the lives of the Neapolitan National Archaeological Museum's residents. Now that Pompeii erupts only in tourism, statues come alive. As sculptures, frescoes, and mosaics are studied in laboratories, the film analyzes the detailed archaeological work and the international visitors' tired faces. The film balances silent observation with a rhythmic collage and respectfully depicts the museum as an irreplaceable space and intellectual entity. The museum closes, and the last laggards with their cameras slip out the door. The guides are already home. A whisper passes among the statues, but their faces remain stoned. A party of ancient proportions is planned.

Le Génie Des Arbres

Emmanuelle Nobécourt

Highly sensitive and in constant interaction with their environment, trees are a model of resilience, energy balance, and resource management. From the molecular to the planetary scale, this documentary highlights their invaluable role in biodiversity.

H₂o: Molekula, Která Nás Stvořila (Epizoda 1 – Puls) H₂o: The Molecule That Made Us (Episode One – Pulse)

Nicolas Brown Alex Tate

The first episode of the popular-science miniseries invites us on an adventure to seek answers about the origin of water on our planet and its crucial role in life on Earth. Consisting of five chapters, the episode encourages us to perceive and use the basic building block of our world in a more sensible way. However, it also introduces us to die-hard fans of water, unraveling the mysteries of its origin and the fundamental principles of its behavior. It reveals the inherent order and systematic relationship of this liquid with other organic species—an interconnection that transcends human understanding. This three-part bildungsroman presents H₂O as a hero whose life cycle is not constrained by the limits of civilizations or the increasingly sophisticated efforts to control and eliminate it.

Hádanky Z Kostí: Genderová Revoluce (Riddle Of The Bones: Gender Revolution)

Birgit Tanner Carsten Gutschmidt

Men were the hunters and providers, while women took care of the family hearth and children. For some, gender roles have been set since time immemorial. However, this assumption has been challenged by recent scientific research. At the end of the 19th century, a tomb containing skeletal remains and artifacts was discovered. The conclusion? A burial site of a famous male warrior. However, in 2017, it was proven that the skeleton belonged to a woman. This revelation has led many scientists to question the extent to which the biases and social hierarchies of the 19th and 20th centuries influenced scientific conclusions. This documentary highlights the need to reinterpret our own history and examine when and why the division of gender roles was established.

Henry Glassie: V Terénu (Henry Glassie: Field Work)

Pat Collins

What does the fieldwork of a folklorist entail? Follow the trail of Henry Glassie, a renowned American folklorist and ethnologist, and observe his study of humans performing the craft of art. This portrait of the professor emeritus of Indiana University was filmed in the USA, Ireland, and Brazil, but it originates from his work spanning five continents. Rather than focusing on people, his research centers on their creations, which are as diverse as humanity itself. The structure of the documentary reflects this approach by placing the viewer in the position of an observer, contemplating artistic work from across the world. For 105 minutes, you too can become an ethnologist, exploring what art means to humanity.

Banquet of the Beasts

Daniela Pulverer Boris Raim

What happens when an animal perishes in the depth of the forest? Who clears up the remains? Why aren't we surrounded by carcasses? After all, death is a constant and universal visitor …
Science is on the trail of a macabre challenge: to dissect in detail what happens to dead animals in the wild. Every death means life for zillions of other living organisms: it is the initiator of a complex cycle we all depend upon. But despite its importance, we know relatively little about the animals that move in after a body has died, the organisms that radically change the body's chemistry, and the plants that recycle the valuable nutrients contained in every carcass.
A film about life after death …

In Silico (2020)

Noah Hutton

A young filmmaker sets out to document a brilliant neuroscientist who has become frustrated with his field's status quo. With time elapsing and millions of dollars on the line, In Silico explores an audacious 10-year quest to simulate the entire human brain on supercomputers. Along the way, it reveals the profound beauty of tiny mistakes and bold predictions — a controversial space where scientific process meets ego, and where the lines between objectivity and ambition blur.

Killing Patient Zero

Laurie Lynd

1980s, North America. Gaétan Dugas is wrongly identified as "patient zero," responsible for the spread of the AIDS epidemic. Through his story, the filmmaker conducts an enlightening investigation into homophobia, misinformation surrounding the disease, and the dangers of such falsehoods.

Her Name Was Europa

Anja Dornieden Juan David González Monroy

Aurochs is the name given to the wild ancestor of modern cattle. The aurochs has the distinction of being the first documented case of extinction. The last known wild aurochs died in the Jaktorów Forest in Poland in 1627. Hunting and the introduction of domesticated cattle led to their decline and disappearance. Their value, however, derived not just from them being a source of sustenance. Traits that were attributed to the animal, such as speed, strength, and courage, imbued it with great symbolic power. Some of their body parts were ascribed with supernatural powers. The skin of the forehead and a cross-shaped bone inside the heart were prized for their magical properties. Those who carried them became possessors of the animal's traits.
In the 20th century efforts to bring back the Aurochs from extinction began to materialize.

Kampaň Proti Klimatu (The Campaign Against The Climate)

Mads Ellesøe

This gripping investigative documentary uncovers the web of lobby- ists and secret climate sceptics. Hiding behind distorted facts, they have shaped the public opinion on global warming and crushed sci- entists in TV debates. It is unsurprising that these communication specialists were indirectly co-financed by oil companies. For some of the elites, the rescue or collapse of our planet's biosphere is only a power play. The deniers have won this battle for public opinion, but the climate war is not over.

Une fois que tu sais (Once you know)

Emmanuel Cappellin

ONCE YOU KNOW is the intimate journey of director Emmanuel Cappellin across the abyss of a world at the edge of climate-induced collapse. His voyage into this uncharted territory is that of a whole generation turning to climate scientists, local democracy, grassroots initiatives, and mass rebellion in a courageous search for an exit.
Think this film matters? Please, consider supporting Once You Know's crowdfunding campaign. Only with your help will the film reach more people: https://chuffed.org/project/extinctionrebellion-onceyouknow
For all educational, institutional, and community screening licenses, please contact arlin@videoproject.com

Korona – Pandemie A Luskouni (Corona - The Pandemic And The Pangolin)

Susanne Lummer

A gripping call to action: uncover the roots of pandemics, from wildlife crime to zoonotic threats, with global experts sounding a crucial warning.

She Walks with Apes

Caitlin Starowicz Mark Starowicz

Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas, nicknamed the "Trimates", are the authors of essential research on gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans. Three young scientists follow in their footsteps.
The findings and determination of the three primatologists are remarkable. It is no wonder these women have become a great inspiration for future generations. The film follows Julia, Nadia, and Ruth to Indonesia, Rwanda, and Uganda. The field footage explores the world of apes and shows how the primatologists conduct their research. The commentary of Goodall and Galdikas themselves accompanies the film. It is not just a portrait of a scientific expedition, but a testimony to the work of strong women scientists.

Levhartí Královna (Leopard Legacy)

Will Steenkamp Lianne Steenkamp

This film follows Olimba, an incredible leopardess and her two small cubs as they each face their own challenges. From their life-threatening encounters with hyenas, baboons and other leopards, to the remarkable triumphs of their most promising hunts, and the unexpected losses that bring tragedy to their lives – the two generations of leopards bring a real, intimate story of what truly happens in the fascinating life of such a gracious, elusive big cat – surviving as a mother, and as youngsters in the heartland of Africa.

Megapožáry: Po Stopách Globální Hrozby (Megafires: Investigating Global Threat)

Cosima Dannoritzer

Australia, California, Siberia, Sweden, Portugal, Greece, Amazonia...: for more than a decade, the litany of "megafires" has been in the news, so frequently now that one catastrophe chases the previous one in people's minds. Many have forgotten that in 2016, in the oil-rich city of Fort McMurray (Canada), uncontrollable forest fires reached the city, causing the evacuation of almost all of the 100,000 inhabitants and the destruction of thousands of homes. Each year, these fires destroy more than 350 million hectares of forest, six times the size of France, and are increasingly spreading to inhabited areas. In this global investigation, Cosima Dannoritzer meets firefighters, scientists and fire experts from Europe to Indonesia, including the United States and Canada.

Mt. Suswa – Život Ve Vulkánu (Mt. Suswa – Life In Volcano)

Oliver Goetzl

Do volcanoes not offer great living conditions? The surface and underground of an extinct volcano near Kenya is home to many types of fauna making Mt. Suswa one of the most remarkable places in the world.

Na Tenkém Ledě (On Thin Ice)

Henry M. Mix Boas Schwarz

This documentary gives us a unique opportunity to get a glimpse of an area that has been restricted for decades. We can witness the dramatic transformation of Siberia. The degradation of water, soil, and air fundamentally affects both the indigenous human pop- ulation and local wildlife. Sinkholes, craters, canyons, methane ex- plosions, drought, wildfires, melting permafrost - a Pandora's Box has been opened. The pace of climate change in these regions is disturbing, and our future is at stake.

Národ CBD (Cbd Nation)

David Jakubovic

CBD is a substance contained in hemp plants. Unlike THC it is not intoxicating and does not cause a „high". In fact, it offers many benefits for the human body and helps heal various health issues.

Naslouchání Přírodě (Listening To Nature – The Enigma Of The Silent Scream)

Jacques Mitsch

Have you ever wondered what animals talk about? Whether it aims to warn, scare off, or seduce, communication is the safest and fast- est way to interact in the animal kingdom, as in the human world. In Listening to Nature, experts set up their bioacoustics laboratory in the open air and take us to Namibia, France, South Africa, and Canada, where they expose the animal world in a new, yet unique, entertaining and fascinating way through sound experiments.

Naturales Historiae (2019)

Pauline Julier

The film begins with a volcanic eruption that stranded the director, Pauline Julier, in a foreign city, among strangers. In turns, these strangers evoke legends about the formation of the continents, the blooming of the tectonic plates or the explosion of ash that provoked summers without sun. Beginning with this event, Julier decides to challenge the concept, as vast as it is thorny, of the representation of nature. Separated by different thematic areas such as landscape, the notion of sublime, the conquest of space or even the deception around natural catastrophes, the film insightfully retraces a critical history of nature. Going from the mythological notions of a world dominated by natural forces to the paradigm of the Anthropocene in which we find ourselves today, NATURALES HISTORIAE does not treat nature as a universal and objective notion, but as a pure discursive construction, a fiction. In the absence of certainty, nature may perhaps only be the incomprehensible, the untamed, all that we could never lock up in the frame of a landscape.

Nespoutaná Panda (Panda Goes Wild)

Jacky Poon Yuangqi Wu

"Panda Goes Wild" is a documentary that chronicles the journey of a giant panda from birth to its release into the wild over a span of three years. The film provides an in-depth look at the challenges and preparations involved in reintroducing captive-born pandas into their natural habitat.

Občan Nobel (Citizen Nobel)

Stephane Goel

Winning the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry turned Jacques Dubochet's life upside down and thrust him firmly into the limelight. Receiving attention from all sides the Swiss biophysicist wonders how to make best use of being centre-stage, which battles to fight and how to become a Nobel citizen?

Odložené Případy: Dinosaurus (Cold Case: Dinosaur)

Simon Scheider

An excavator operator working in a pit in the oil sands discovers a perfectly preserved dinosaur corpse. It's like a crime scene and the world's paleontologists are on the case.

Pavlovův Mamut (Mammoth Of Pavlov)

Konstantin Atamanyuk

An archaeological expedition to a marsh in Siberia where mam- moth bones were sticking out of ice only a few weeks ago. Join the chase for an ancient carcass that is being uncovered due to global warming.

Píseň Lásky – Lidoop S Appkou (A Song For Love - An Ape With An App)

Mark Fletcher

In 2017 the world learned of the discovery of a new type of gi- bbon, a close relative of man. It was given a name from the Star Wars lore - Skywalker. But the fear for its survival soon soured the joyous news.

Planeta Středomoří (The Deep Med)

Gil Kébaïli

A captivating documentary with never-before-seen footage from the bottom of the Mediterranean. Unknown creatures, alluring landscapes, and vast biodiversity. Places inaccessible for an or- dinary diver where only 1% of sunlight reaches.

Pluto: Zmrtvýchvstání (Pluto: Back From The Dead)

Alastair Duncan

Pluto, the former ninth and the most remote planet of the Solar System, relabeled the largest dwarf planet in 2006. Despite this, Pluto continues to thrill and disclose its many secrets.

Po Požárech (After The Wildfires)

Cian O'clery

"After the Wildfires" is a 2020 Australian documentary directed by Cian O'Clery. The film explores the aftermath of Australia's catastrophic bushfires, focusing on the recovery and resilience of wildlife and ecosystems. It delves into the efforts of scientists, conservationists, and local communities as they work to restore habitats and protect endangered species affected by the fires.

The Last Artifact

Jaime Jacobsen Ed Watkins

It affects every aspect of our lives from the moment we are born, to the food we eat, the cars we drive, and the medicines we take. This object has helped send men to the moon, and satellites into space. It is an object unlike any other, the last of its kind. A literal constant in an ever-changing world, and the weight by which all others are measured. The Last Artifact follows the high-stakes race to redefine the weight of the world, and reveals the untold story of one of the most important objects on the planet: the kilogram.

Rozpočet Na Život (The Cost Of Living)

Sean Blacknell Wayne Walsh

A companion piece to The Future of Work and Death, The Cost of Living is a documentary that explores the current socio-economic state of Britain and whether or not a basic income could remedy the sociological toll of a growing precarious class. The film focuses on the feasibility of a basic income, John Rawls' theory of justice, automation and ultimately asks should there still be a cost attributed to survival?

MS

Suzanne Raes

A dialogue in film between a writer and a scientist about the disease dominating their lives.
Multiple sclerosis is a well-known disease with a dramatic course. A silent killer which progressively restricts its victims in their movements, not taking their lives but forcing them to surrender their freedom bit by bit. If you have this disease, you don't know why you got it or how you can fight it.
Jeroen Geurts, a professor of Translational Neuroscience at the Amsterdam UMC, is at the forefront of MS research. He is highly ambitious and he is in a hurry. In the year he turns 40, he takes stock of what his research has yielded so far.
Lineke van den Boezem, a scriptwriter, was diagnosed with MS around her 4oth birthday and is trying to live with the disease. Because she feels her doctors have little to offer her, she goes in search of possible therapies that might halt the disease's progress. She too is in a hurry, as any ground lost can't be recovered and the disease will continue to reduce her world.
MS is a film about two people whose lives are ruled by the disease MS. The film revolves around two perspectives: What does science have to offer the individual? And what can a scientist learn from an individual patient?
It is an almost philosophical dialogue between a scientist and someone with first-hand experience. A search to discover how to deal with what you don't (yet) know; a search helped by metaphors to provide an image of that which is still not understood. The hope of a solution being close is vital to both of them.

Red Heaven

Katherine Gorringe Lauren DeFilippo

To help humanity get to Mars, four scientists, an engineer and an architect agree to embark on the longest space simulation in US history: 366 days in isolation and confinement on an active volcano in Hawaii.

Nuclear Forever (Atomkraft Forever)

Carsten Rau

Germany is turning away from nuclear power in 2022. Yet the country's nuclear nightmare goes on: with umpteen thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste and the hazardous dismantling of power plants which will take decades. NUCLEAR FOREVER by Carsten Rau takes an equally profound and alarming look at mankind's dream of atomic energy, in grand scenes that have yet to be portrayed like this, and in six interwoven episodes. In the end, the viewer can and must form their own impression of the mania called nuclear power that has no end.

Spánek: Načechraná Revoluce (Sleep: The Soft Revolution)

Thierry Robert

A third of our lives is spent in deep sleep. Although sleep is an integral partner of our lives, four out of ten people suffer from insomnia or major breathing irregularities while sleeping, caused by sleep apnea.

66 Metres - Rising Sea Levels / Steigende Pegel - Wenn Das Wesser Kommt

Alexander Lahl Max Mönch

As a consequence of climate change, rising sea levels could significantly reshape coastlines by 2100. With entire regions under threat, scientists are devising solutions to protect future generations while studying the complex dynamics of this phenomenon.

Sůl, Prosím (Pass The Salt)

Michael Mcnamara

Pass the Salt is an hour-long investigation into the mysteries of one of our most fundamental elements: salt. It's an exploration that takes us from far beneath the earth's crust, to the inner depths of the human body - a search for the real answers to a mounting debate about the benefits and dangers of sodium chloride (table salt). Pass the Salt uses creative and stylish visual analogs to bring this science to life. One would think that our understanding of something as basic as salt (sometimes referred to as "the fifth element") would be straightforward, but the humble salt-shaker holds many mysteries. We meet passionate players from both sides of the dinner table and discover how long-held beliefs are being questioned - and how everything we thought we knew about salt may be wrong. We'll taste-test salts from around the world, de-bunk myths, and re-examine data. We'll join scientists and scholars, salt harvesters, chefs and specialists on the front lines of the "Great Salt Debate" in labs, kitchens, salt harvesting operations - and even spaceships. This is a fantastic opportunity to explore new science about an ancient substance that's been a part of culture and cuisine from our very beginnings.

Suzzanne Daveau (2019)

Luisa Homem

Portraiture and history, testimony and geography cohere to absorbing effect in Luísa Homem's interview-based micro-epic. The film's titular subject, a French geographer and adventurer born in 1925, recounts her own life, covering her student years during World War II, her subsequent field research in Africa and Portugal, her loves, her family, her feminism, and her reflections on modernity. Homem strikingly weaves together interviews, archival photos, and home movies to arrive at a complex and immersive portrait of a modern woman perennially fascinated by the world around her and consumed by an insatiable hunger for knowledge.

Tuleni Z Ostrova Sable (Seals Of Sable)

Terasa Macinnes Kent Nason

On the remote shores of Sable Island, N.S., we meet the world's largest breeding colony of grey seals and the people who study them.

Úl Pohledu (Beewildered Companions)

Felix Remter Miriam Remter

Ever since a little parasite entered the stages of beekeeping in Europe in the 1980s, science, honeybees and their keepers find themselves in an ongoing crisis. Slowly and gradually the film unfolds the spectrum of some strange parallel worlds – dystopian and utopian, poetic and cruel, desperate and hopeful. The practices of breeding, medical care, and tree beekeeping are closely depicted. Like one of its protagonists, the film poses the overall question: ‚What is natural anyway?' Its rhythm gives viewers time to experience, unravel, and involve themselves, in the immersive sounds, images and ongoing debates in the fight for honeybee survival. But scientists worry that this approach of fighting and control is a dead end, and they wonder how the revival of tree beekeeping from the forests of Bashkiria may become a sustainable approach.

Picture A Scientist

Ian Cheney sharon Shattuck

In PICTURE A SCIENTIST, three leading women scientists overcome brutal harassment, institutional discrimination, and years of subtle slights to revolutionize the culture of science.

Za Záchranou Jazyka (To Save A Language)

Liivo Niglas

Not only are rare animals disappearing from our world, languages are too. Linguists around the globe are attempting to save them. Indrek Park, an Estonian expert, is heading to the Missouri River valley on such a mission.

Coded Bias

Shalini Kantayya

Modern society sits at the intersection of two crucial questions: What does it mean when artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly governs our liberties? And what are the consequences for the people Al is biased against? When MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini discovers that most facial-recognition software does not accurately identify darker-skinned faces and the faces of women, she delves into an investigation of widespread bias in algorithms. As it turns out, artificial intelligence is not neutral, and women are leading the charge to ensure our civil rights are protected.
Not available - 13th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival (Oct 16-23, 2020)

Women in Science in Africa, A Silent Revolution

Kate Thompson-Gorry

Women in Science in Africa, a Silent revolution
More than forty years ago, a woman, scientist and environmental activist, created the Green Belt movement to fight deforestation in her home region in Kenya. In 2004, this woman was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This was the first Nobel Prize ever awarded to an African woman. Her name was Wangari Maathai. 15 years later, more than 35 million trees have been planted throughout the African continent. And Wangari Maathai continues to inspire a whole new generation of women who are involved in science. Today, there her successors are all over the continent; pioneers charting new paths in the traditionally male dominated world of science. Dynamic and enterprising, these African women scientists are the new face of a modern Africa that is participating in the great upheavals of our societies. But in this competitive world, they are still under-represented. We followed three of them, respectively specialists in nanochemistry, molecular biology and astrophysics.
Who are these women? What obstacles did they have to overcome to reach the top of their game? What impact do they have on their community? Will they be able to find concrete solutions to the major challenges of the 21st century? And what if the Einstein of tomorrow were to be an African woman?

České Zázraky: Kapka Rtuti (Czech Miracles: Mercury Drops)

Petra Všelichová

Polarography is a method that uses a mercury electrode to identify the exact compositions of solutions. The ideas of its inventor, the only Czech Nobel Prize winner in natural sciences, Jaroslav Hey- rovský, continue to inspire scientists to this day. The documentary combines historical records of the scientist's life from interviews with experts from various scientific disciplines. It also outlines how polarography is currently used in practice and clarifies its potential application in the future.

Čeští Vědci V Tající Arktidě (Czech Scientists In The Arctic)

Zdeněk Zvonek

The warming of the planet Earth has long been no secret, and it is most noticeable in the polar regions... Zdenek Zvonek's documentary follows a group of scientists who are dedicated to exploring the polar regions of Spitsbergen. The aim of the documentary is to introduce the audience to their research focusing on the issue of global warming and other changes through which humans negatively affect the nature around them, and to at least somewhat dispel the rumors that prevail about this topic among the general public. In the beautiful scenery of the harsh Arctic landscape, the director reflects together with the scientists on the role of humanity as a whole on the planet and what may or may not await us in the near future, when not only places in nature untouched by man will disappear, but water in the landscape will rapidly decrease and entire animal species will become extinct. In our current period, the rate of species disappearance is said to be 1000 x 10000 higher than in the past. In Spitsbergen, we will especially realize that nature is a storehouse of various material services and resources that we cannot do without, and at the same time, that nature is very seriously threatened by the expanding human civilization and that it is necessary to protect it. But at the same time, not to stop human progress and to find methods that will support a sustainable life on our planet.

A Day With Particles

Daniel Scheirich Martin Rybar Vojtech Pleskot

You think you know what a physicist's life is like? Follow a day in the life of a typical physicist using a mixture of live action and cartoon drawing, with a few fascinating facts and anecdotes along the way.

Do Chile Za Zatměním Slunce (To Chile For A Solar Eclipse)

Jiri Dobry

Three science enthusiasts and filmmakers document their adventurous trip to see Solar eclipse and astronomic observatories in Chilean Andes.

Helios (2020)

Ondrej Sovik

The incredible story of Miloslav Druckmüller, an amateur solar eclipse photographer who, with his perseverance and invention, caused a global breakthrough in solar research... For scientists, the Sun is not just a glowing ball in the sky that gives us light and heat, it is a cosmic body whose turbulent processes can destroy our civilization. Investigating the mechanisms of the Sun's magnetic field is only possible during a total eclipse. But there is a catch. The eclipse lasts only a few minutes, during which everything must be recorded as best as possible and then the results processed mathematically. Although the Sun's behavior could destroy the energy grid on which we depend, his research did not move for a long time due to this problem. But then Brno's mathematics professor Miloslav Druckmüller came up with an extraordinary idea that changed everything. What was initially just a personal hobby carried out on vacation, turned into collaboration with scientists from all over the world and NASA - and also into famous visually fascinating footage. The documentary film Helios, which captures the incredible story of a Czech scientist, is at once a portrait, a popular science film, and a road movie through the American West, where watching the "Great American Eclipse" became a social phenomenon in 2017.

Hvězdičky – Otto (Little Stars – Otto)

Lucie Štamfestová

The episode of the animated series from the ČT :D workshop presents Otto Wichterle, a native of Prostejov, a prominent chemist. He is famous for the invention of contact lenses: when the Academy of Sciences canceled his research, he completed them at home.

Ještě Hořím?: Petr Juračka (Am I Still Burning?: Peter Juracka)

Hana Pinkavova

His photo is on the cover of Paulo Coelho's book. He was awarded for filming mold. The popularizer of science and globally acclaimed photographer continues to amaze with his drive and playful disposition.

KUKU (Cuckoo)

Daniela Hybnerova

Maybe the cuckoo is not an innocent, inconspicuous nest parasite. Maybe it is more of a skilled African golfer with colorful eggs. And did you know that the cuckoo may be a man-eater?

Nedej Se: Kdo Zaplatí Účet? (Don’t Give Up: Who Pays The Bill)

Martin Slunečko

A view of geologist and writer Václav Cílek on environmental changes in the last thirty years, the current environmental state of the world and visions of the future.

Nedej Se: Paměť Pralesa (Don't Give Up: Forest Memory)

Tomas Kratochvill

At first glance, we recognize only a deciduous or coniferous forest. But under the tree crowns we can find organisms with longevity beyond our wildest fantasies.

O Vlcích A Lidech (Of Wolves And Men)

Michal Galik

Wolves were a natural part of our environment until man practically made them extinct. After more than a hundred years, these predators return to the Czech Republic. Can we learn how to live with them in harmony?

Personal Life of a Hole

Ondřej Vavrečka

"Personal Life of a Hole" relates to the current situation of (western) people. We live in the hole of time and we share the hole of nonsense. We work in the hole of salary. Our memory ends in the hole of forgetting. There is the harmfull ozone hole. There is the inexplicable black hole. Atoms are more empty then full, they are full of holes. There are holes full of trash and holes full of coal in the ground. There is a hole in our heart when we lose our lover. A window is a hole in the wall. And there is also a hole in the film "Personal Life of a Hole". Holy hole, what to do with all these holes? The film responds to contemporary issues of ecology, economics, culture, and – finally – love, too.

Zebra Bez Hřívy (The Story Of The Maneless Zebra)

Michal Galik

Today the image of enormous herds of wild beasts roaming Africa is unfortunately far from the truth. Animals of Africa are disappearing irrevocably and this tragic fate is shared by the maneless zebra, which was brought to Czechia in the seventies by the zoologist Josef Vágner.

Tajná Historie – Sexuální Dějiny Českých Zemí (Secret History - Sexual Past The Bohemian Country)

Pavel Simak

Rapid social development in the 19th century primarily influenced public life. However, private life and sexuality were bound by strict and often unspoken rules applied differently to men and women.

Te:20 (2021)

Jakub Harabis

TE:20 captures scientific work in both the detail and extent of its social context. The feat is not small. Defend knowledge's value and set the standards of collegiality in science and education. Will one summer suffice?

Trans*viktor

Filip Stocek Stepan Svoboda

In six short films, the project of Televize Seznam endeavours to present the thoughts and emotional life of people defying the conventional concept of gender roles to the wider public.

Light of the Night

Matej Pok

The global problem of light pollution is growing exponentially every year, but we have not found a real solution to solve it yet. The problem that negatively affects the lives of animals and plants, the work of astronomers, but most of all the health of each of us, although we are not aware of it, yet.

Living Water (Žít vodu)

Pavel Borecký

LIVING WATER is an atmospheric journey into the clash between the state of Jordan, agricultural businesses and Wadi Rum indigenous communities over the last abundant source of drinking water.

Délka Života (Lifespan)

Arif Nurmohamed

We all age, but is it truly inevitable? Findings in a wide range of scientific disciplines bring new perspectives to human longevity.

A Demonstration

Sasha Litvintseva Beny Wagner

"A Demonstration" is a monster film with no monsters. Inspired by the existence of taxonomies of monsters at the heart of Early Modern European science, the film explores and reinterprets a way of seeing the natural world that is almost impossible to imagine from today's vantage point. Early Modern naturalists were guided by a logic in which scientific truths were discovered through visual analogy. The word 'monster' comes from the latin 'monstrare', meaning to show, to reveal, to demonstrate. "A Demonstration" picks up on these themes in a poetic exploration of the boundaries of sight and the metamorphosis of form.

The Cloud House

Elias Heuninck

'It was in 1894 that I first visited Ben Nevis. Young physicists were sometimes welcomed in the Observatory for short periods in the summer to take the place of observers on holiday. I offered myself for this work and it was arranged that I should spend a fortnight on the summit.'
This is Charles Wilson at the beginning of his career. His efforts to recreate atmospheric effects in the lab resulted in the first particle detector: the expansion cloud chamber. The sharp vapour trails of alpha and beta particles made for beautiful graphic pictures. I realised there are no images directly resulting from the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider as the research is based on statistical data. When I learned that the innermost sensor of the CMS detector is actually similar to the construction of a camera, I tried interpreting the data as images. Crude digital counterparts of Wilson's historical images appeared.

Hysterical Girl

Kate Novack

Nicknamed "Dora," Ida Bauer was one of Sigmund Freud's most publicized patients. By contrasting the psychoanalyst's writings on their sessions with Ida Bauer's perspective, the film offers a crucial deconstruction of the theory of female hysteria.

The Institute (2020)

Alexander Glandien

The film is about the importance of biodiversity for the cultural identity and the economic independence of Latin America. This animated documentary is based on a conversation with Brigitte Baptiste—leading biodiversity expert, transgender activist, and longtime head of the "Instituto Humboldt", the world's only institute for biodiversity research. The interview was recorded in Bogota in 2019.

Lichen

Lisa Jackson

Available only in the United States
This stunning otherworldly short film takes a deep dive into lichen, a species that confounds scientists to this day. Shot in macro 3D, Lichen offers us a look at this remarkable life form and asks what we might learn from it. Ancient and diverse, both an individual and a community, lichens can live in the most extreme environments, including outer space. This meditative film bridges science and philosophy, and the words of lichenologist Trevor Goward illuminate the terrain in poetic and thought-provoking ways.

Na Pokraji – Netopýři (On The Brink - Bats)

Akanksha Sood Singh

This series reveals the hidden splendours of India's natural world, exploring species and habitats rarely seen on television. Local conservationists feature in each episode and help us understand why certain animals that once lived in large populations are now threatened with possible extinction. In this episode bat scientist Adora Thabah ventures into caverns, caves and mysterious places in search of the Wroughton's free tailed bat. She makes a discovery that could potentially lead to more research into one of the most misunderstood species on the planet.

Under Control

Ville Koskinen

Under Control shows human action from the insect's level. The botanical garden is an artificial nature-like installation where each room has its own microclimate. Despite human attempts to control the environment, pests are spreading and eating the plants all over the garden. The gardeners are fighting against the pests with cryptobugs; thousands of ladybirds that are specially bred for killing and imported from abroad. But since cryptobugs alone don't solve the problem, the gardeners have to rely on the help of an exterminator who kills the pests as well as all the other insects with poisons. As the remedies get harsher, the bystanders will have to face the consequences.

Movements

Dahee JEONG

In the space of 10 minutes, the African baobab tree grows 0.008mm, the fastest dog in the world, the Greyhound, can
run 12km, and the Earth travels 18,000km around the Sun. "Movements" is a 10-minute animated film which I drew at
a rate of 2 seconds of animation per day. We are all walking, seeing, working, running, and stopping together.

Night Fair

Cynthia Naggar Gueze

Unique alliance of art and science, the experimental film Night Fair focuses on brain activity through the different cycles of a night's sleep. Through voice mail, media artist Cynthia Naggar and sound designer Gueze collected the dreams of citizens. These are ingeniously combined with graphic and sound representations generated by algorithms from anonymous medical data.

Překódovat Umění (Recoding Art)

Bruno Moreschi Gaabriel Pereira

Glitches, errors, ideologies and unexpected readings by AIs working in a museum of contemporary art.

Rebelky–katia Krafft (Brazen-Katia Krafft)

Charlotee Cambon De Lavalette Phoung Mai Nguyen

Time and again, volcanologist Katie Krafft has risked her life to observe and document the most spectacular volcanic eruptions. This infectious animated film tells her inspiring and moving story.

Solastalgie (Solastalgia)

Eline Kersten

Nostalgia refers to the feeling one has of a place they left behind. Solastalgia, on the other hand, refers to the homesickness one has when they are still at home. Ecological philosopher Glenn Albrecht calls it the impact of environmental change on the mental health of the people who live through it. With an impressive visual aspect comprised exclusively of drone landscape shots, Kersten's film explores this relationship in the stories of people affected by the quarry near Maastrich.

Světelné Variace Městské Oblohy (Luminous Variations In The City Skies)

Giuseppe Spina

Between 1932 and 1957, at the Specola Tower in Bologna, a new optical technology was invented, one that would revolutionize outer space observatory methods. The tower's four floors were perforated and a series of hexagonal mirrors were installed side by side at its base, creating a giant telescope of 2 by 24 meters. A mobile camera was set at right angles to the mirrors, with a focal length of 10,41 meters, exposing thousands of glass plates which offered a systematic overview of the city's zenithal sky. Thirty years of research were necessary for the astronomer Guido Horn D'Arturo to invent the specchio a tasselli – also called multimirror or segmented mirror – an archetype of today's most advanced telescopes. Full of point-like shapes, these photographic plates are now also full of spots and traces of deteriorated emulsions. This silent film, made by Giuseppe Spina, is composed of digital scans and blow-ups of Horn D'Arturo's plates.

To Nedopočítáš! (The Great Calculus – Infinite Limits)

Elisabetta Zucchi

A dense series of educational videos target a spectrum of questions from the field of infinitesimal calculus—from integrals to derivatives, from definities to infinity. The presented episode invites the viewers on a concise, yet long journey to the edge of giant black holes and beyond.

Operation Jane Walk

Robin Klengel Leonhard Müllner

A City Tour through the Architectures of an Online Shooter
The live online performance Operation Jane Walk is based on the dystopian multiplayer shooter "Tom Clancy's: The Division". The game's digital war zone is appropriated with the help of an artistic operation: Within the rules of the software, the militaristic environment is being re-used for a narrative city tour. The urban strollers avoid the combats whenever possible and become peaceful tourists of a digital world, which is a detailed replica of Midtown Manhattan. Accompanied by two guests the audience watches the performers promenading the digital battleground, exploring the possibilities (and impossibilities) of new media technologies. Avoiding the hostile gunfire, Klengel and Müllner comment on the digital architectures by Le Corbusier or Walter Gropius as well as on the ideological battle between Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses. The lecture performance thus evolves a narration touching issues such as the relationship between war and architecture, the history of cities and dystopias as well as their transformation through digital media.

Survivre Au Progrès (Surviving Progress)

Mathieu Roy Harold Crooks

Civilizations are destroyed by the "traps of progress" that address immediate needs but jeopardize the future. Through clear and convincing arguments, researchers and thinkers place our ecological and economic crises in the context of human evolution.

The Magnitude of All Things

Jennifer Abbott

When Jennifer Abbott lost her sister to cancer, her sorrow opened her up to the profound gravity of climate breakdown, drawing intimate parallels between the experiences of grief—both personal and planetary. Stories from the frontlines of climate change merge with recollections from the filmmaker's childhood on Ontario's Georgian Bay. What do these stories have in common?
The answer, surprisingly, is everything.

Manufactured Landscapes (2006)

Jennifer Baichwal

Photographer Edward Burtynsky travels the world observing changes in landscapes due to industrial work and manufacturing.

Antikoncepční Pilulka: Brát, Či Nebrat? (Contraceptive Pill: How Safe Is It?)

Milla Harrison‐hansley Alicky Sussman

In recent years a groundbreaking new study has been released into the effects of the contraceptive pill. Research from Denmark claimed women on the pill and other forms of hormonal contraception were 70% more likely to be diagnosed with depression than those who were not. And another study has found hormonal contraception was linked to a seemingly dramatic risk of breast cancer.

Dilema Touhy (The Dilemma Of Desire)

Maria Finitzo

The Dilemma of Desire explores the clash between the external power of gender politics and the equally powerful imperatives of female sexual desire through the lens of our main subjects: provocative women all using their work to challenge and shatter the myths about what women want. No easy task to be sure. Cultural, religious and political forces continue to punish women for wanting sex despite scientific evidence proving that women are highly sexual beings. One question drives our narrative: How different would the world look if women's libidos were taken as seriously as men's?

Můj Soukromý Měsíc (The Moon Inside You)

Diana Fabiánová

Like many other women, Diana has been suffering from problematic periods for years. With every new cycle, the same question arises: "Why the pain and annoyance if I am healthy?".

Viva La Vulva (2019)

Gabriele Schweiger

With a sense of humour, this documentary questions the condition of women from the angle of the image and perception of their body, and covers the new taboos and aesthetic diktats concerning their genitals in the era of the sexual revolution and contemporary feminism.

Zoom cosmique (Cosmic zoom)

Eva Szasz

This short animation transports us from the farthest conceivable point of the universe to the tiniest particle of existence, an atom of a living human cell. The art of animation and animation camera achieve this exhilarating journey with a freshness and clarity. Without words.

Koukej, Zvuky Amazonie (Visual Sounds Of The Amazon)

Andy Thomas

Australian artist Andy Thomas (previously here and here) presents his first installment of Visual Sounds of the Amazon, a responsive artwork that alters its visual shape based on audio Thomas collected from the Amazon rainforest.

Nesnesitelná Linka (Unendurable Line)

Daihei Shibata

Consider this line and its corresponding chorus as they graph and reflect the variables of different objects. It's a visual and aural experiment that can be created for anything… toast in the toaster, the wind in the trees, a crying baby, or something that's happening in the room you're in right now.

No Jako Nevím (I’m Not Sure)

Andy Thomas

The experimental film about artificial intelligence is a gallery series of commentated surreal images. Whether it is a human body, an animal, an umbrella, or an abstraction, it always depends on what set of data we proceed from when attributing meaning to an image.

Unknown Fields: Madagascar – A Treasured Island

Toby Smith

In times past an anarchist community of pirates called Madagascar home. It was an island beyond the law and off the map, a place of rogues, booty and bounties. These were outlaws moored on a marooned ecosystem. Set adrift 88 million years ago, the island is a castaway in the Indian Ocean, inhabited by a band of ecological stowaways. In this splendid isolation it has evolved into an unparalleled wonderland of the weird and unique, diverse and unbelievable.
A political coup in 2009 left the country adrift once more – isolated from the international community, deprived of foreign aid and conservation funding. One of the planet's most precious ecological treasures is home to one of its poorest nations and it raises difficult and complex questions about the relationship between necessity and luxury. Amidst political uncertainty, the island's fragile and unique ecology is being smuggled out illegally, boat by boat, gem by gem.
www.tobysmith.com
www.unknownfieldsdivision.com

The Joy Of Data

Catherine Gale

Hannah Fry, a mathematician, tells stories from the past and questions the present to make tangible the technological and societal dimensions of data management, known as BIG DATA. History, philosophy, and mathematics come together to shed a unique light on the subject.

Structures of Nature

Martin Gerigk

"Structures of Nature" is an audiovisual journey through the inner worlds of experiences in the form of a three-part interaction between four narrators, twelve violoncellos, emergent sound events and rhythmicized synaesthetic video sequences. A symbiosis of visual processes as well as natural and artificial sounds created from human speech and string instruments.
Images, music, speech and sounds are commensurate compositional elements that lead the viewer through various micro- and macroscopic structures of nature in a literal and transcendent sense, making them sensuous to the eye and ear.
"Structures of Nature" shows different facets of the cosmos like chemical creations, sociological and physical principles of form, and also mathematical formulas as symbols for uncompromising order or one ́s radical suicide for the benefit of the community. The work includes creation and destruction, as well as insect and natural sounds generated from human speech, symbolizing the expression of a swarm-like emergence, the inner conflict beyond time and space in the form of a letter written in futility or even the direct poetry of physical perception.

HOT!—Hooked on Chili

Heimo Aga

"HOT!" is a documentary about the growing worldwide love for chili. A spicy trip to the hottest locations, festivals and chili experts around the globe.

Sriracha (2013)

Griffin Hammond

Sriracha has earned a cult following, but the story of this spicy sauce is a mystery to most fans. Dedicated to Sriracha lovers, this documentary travels around the globe to reveal its origin and the man behind the iconic "rooster sauce."

Jídlo Z Pohledu Vědy – Účinky Jídla Na Mozek (The Secrets Of Your Food – Food On The Brain)

Martin Johnson Laura Mulholland

Michael Mosley and James Wong explore the effect that our food has on our most important and, in terms of energy consumption, our greediest organ. It influences our diet by generating cravings for foods such as fat - the most energy-rich food of them all. James heads off to Peru to reveal the surprising link that fat-rich, indulgent chocolate has with breast milk. Sometimes these cravings almost become an addiction - like coffee for example. So we visit a remarkable lab where a team is studying the effect of caffeine on bees and how that may help explain the hold that caffeinated drinks have over us. Together, Michael and James take on some of the hottest chillies on the planet to show what the burn does to our brains. Using the latest imaging techniques and incredibly detailed specialist photography, this is a whole new way of thinking about our relationship with food and the powerful effect it has on our minds.

Earth: Den na Zázračné Planetě (Earth: One Amazing Day)

Richard Dale Peter Webber Lixin Fan

BBC's documentaries are characterized by stunning cinematography. Earth: One Amazing Day is no exception. It gives viewers the opportunity to marvel at the beauties of perhaps the most breathtaking place in the universe—planet Earth. The audience is accompanied through one amazing day full of miracles by the majestic voice of actor Robert Redford. The beauties of our planet are not represented here merely through informative rhetoric but also with many additional visual and genre-specific elements. Would you like some sloth romance? A zebra family road movie? Or perhaps a horror transition from the beauty of day to the horrors of night? Above all, there is man himself with his unique ability for astonishment. All of this and more in one luxurious package.

Příběh Lesa (Seasons)

Jacques Perrin Alexandre Poulichot Jacques Cluzaud

In 2015, the directors of the iconic documentaries Microcosmos and The Travelling Birds embarked on another amazing expedition into the animal kingdom. They did not need to go far—unusual adventures were found in our European forests. Although it may seem that our forests do not hide any secrets, the opposite is true. You can find more interesting stories locally than in distant regions, and its soil is walked by animals we might not have had the opportunity to meet. Modern techniques bring these stories to the screen in a way that astonishes all audiences. Enjoy this family film with absorbing commentary by Tomáš Hanák.

VIDA je Zábava (Vida Is Fun)

Janet Prokešová Aleš Pilgr

VIDA! Science Centre produces two science shows and a popular-science video series featuring a number of audiovisual scientific experiments for children aged four and up. Telescope follows four scientists on a journey to a mysterious planet. Will you be able to reach orbit and the target destination? The second show focuses on the centre of gravity, allowing you to try several experiments demonstrating your centre of gravity and that of everyday objects around you. The series of short videos acquaints you with a mechanism that allows you to make coffee in a moka pot, a material of the future, and something your parents and grandparents know quite well—gramophone records.

Český Žurnál – Slepice, Virus a My (Czech Journal – Hens, Virus And Us)

Filip Remunda

"Chicken experiment, day one." Filip Remunda's children are spending the COVID holidays at a chalet, where they learn the harsh truth about the egg industry. What differentiates a chicken from a dog? Why is it uncomfortable to see one in crowded cages, but not the other? The topic arises during the national quarantine at the Remundas'. So begins their private project—a camera in baby Boris' hands, a few adopted hens, and a new coop. The matters of living conditions, ethics, and legislation of breeding animals, which could notably change the Czech food industry in the following years, are looked at through a child's eyes in this atypical Czech Journal series documentary.

Člověk a Světlo (Light And The Humankind)

Tomáš Návrata

Humans were the first creatures on Earth capable of prolonging their day. They learned to control fire, scaring all other living beings, and outwitted the sun. However, that was not the end of the human's "light evolution." Millions of years later, Edison invented the lightbulb—an instant fire for every household without the risk of setting everything ablaze. Other inventions followed, some of which started robbing us of our sleep with the increasing amount of blue light. Hynek Medřický, an expert on light, points out the negative effects of blue light, which damages our perception of day and night. What does light do to us? How do we prevent our own inventions from becoming problematic?

Jsme Epicentry Zemětřesení (We Are Epicenters Of The Earthquake)

Tomáš Hlaváček

A young couple travels around the Czech Republic and deals with the weighing environmental grief and their position in the systems that actively produce it. The film takes a close look at the relationship of two young people and their confrontation with the emotions they experience while identifying the scope and impact of human activity on the environment. One does not need to go to melting glaciers or dying tropical forests—humanity's destructive footprint is visible in our immediate vicinity. This can be seen in the forests, which we no longer recognize. As a silent observer, the camera captures the protagonists' intimate moments of awareness, as well as various ways in which they both cope with it.

Brazen (2020)

Phuong Mai Nguyen Charlotte Cambon De Lavalette

The animated series Brazen is a television adaptation of the French webcomic Les Culottés by Pénélope Bagieu. The individual episodes introduce women from history and the present who have changed the world. Agnodice was the first gynecologist in Ancient Greece. An enthusiastic fan of true crime stories, France Glessner Lee is considered the mother of forensic sciences. Georgina Reid devoted years to building terrace fields in order to save the cliff of The Montauk Lighthouse from erosion. Mae Jemison, a holder of several doctorate degrees, fulfilled her lifelong dream and became the first Afro-American woman in space. These four short animated films are medallions of these inspirational women.

Tajemství Povrchu: Matematická Vize Maryam Mirzakhani (Secrets Of The Surface: The Mathematical Vision Of Maryam Mirzakhani)

George Paul Csicsery

Thanks to her education and career success, Maryam Mirzakhani became an inspiration for women seeking a place in science all around the world. She was an extraordinary woman with a passion for mathematics. The internationally awarded documentary maps the life and work of one of the foremost figures in the field of natural sciences. Maryam Mirzakhani was the first woman and the first Iranian woman to hold the highest honor in mathematics with the Fields Medal in 2014. Her vision is shown through attractive animations and statements by leading scientists. Thanks to interviews with those close to her, we have the unique opportunity to get a glimpse into the private life of a woman who inspired a generation.

Život s Alzheimerem (Life With Alzheimer’s)

Petr Slavík

More than 150 thousand people suffer from Alzheimer's in Czechia, and the number is growing. This neurodegenerative disease cannot be cured, only slowed down. The Czech Television observational documentary follows four families and focuses on the everyday lives of those who decide to take care of their loved ones suffering from Alzheimer's at home. The afflicted slowly become dependent on the help of others. The film's goal, however, is to show that despite the difficulties, it is possible to live with this disease surrounded by myths.

L’arche D’alliance, Aux Origines De La Bible

Thierry Ragobert

A chest covered in gold containing the Tablets of the Law dictated by God to Moses, the Ark of the Covenant is the holiest relic in Judaism. A Franco-Israeli scientific mission is preparing to excavate the mysterious hill of Kiryath-Jearim in order to solve the mystery of the Ark of the Covenant and uncover the origins of the Bible.