Microscopic Mysteries

Das große Insektensterben

November 2018 •German

Insekten, Superhelden auf sechs Beinen

April 2017 •German

Microcosmos

September 1996 •French

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

The Hellstrom Chronicle

May 1971 •English

A scientist explains how the savagery and efficiency of the insect world could result in their taking over the world.

Ants - Nature's Secret Power

January 2004 •English

UNIVERSUM cameraman Wolfgang Thaler and Bert Hoelldobler, a leading authority on ants, bring us face-to-face with the mysterious world of these social insects.

Death in Vegas

January 2023 •English

The life, death, and resurrection of Elvis Presley, as he is transformed from man into product. Composed primarily of an illustrated biography filmed with a microscope camera.

Hatching by Cirque du Soleil

January 2013 •English

A Documentary on the Creation of OVO, by Cirque du Soleil

Jewels

September 2013 •English

A story about survival, belief in the physical memory of things, as if still-life was always part of the scientific possibility or of the nightmare of extinction.

The World's Biggest and Baddest Bugs

April 2009 •English

The World's Biggest and Baddest Bugs, follows host Ruud Kleinpaste, as he embarks on an entomological odyssey around the globe in search of the ultimate biggest and "baddest" creepy crawlies. The World's Biggest and Baddest Bugs will then profile the "stars" of the show, with Ruud explaining in his audience-friendly style exactly what makes them so amazing.

True Bug

September 2022 •Finnish

Short documentary about true bugs and humans. Short film is also a compassion practice and small journey from human perspective to other playful ways to see.

Das Alien Insekt

October 2001 •German

Groenkijkers

December 2023 •Dutch

The Pink Egg

April 2017 •English

Luis Buñuel’s observation – “You can find all of Shakespeare and de Sade in the lives of insects” – was the inspiration for this experimental horror movie, in which human actors wordlessly enact the life-cycles of wasps and bees. Its purpose is to depict with emotion, humor and unnerving specificity an alternative society that really exists and has nothing to do with human beings. A highly stylized depiction of nature in all her deceitful glory.

Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo

March 2009 •Japanese

Untangling the web of cultural and historical ties underlying Japan's deep fascination with insects.

Divertimento

January 1968 •English

BP documentary film exploring the natural beauty of oil under the microscope, and through a variety of other techniques.

The Marvelous Wild World of the Vegetable Garden

May 2022 •French

This is the story of a vegetable garden, from the first seeds to the harvest. But this garden is different, because here the gardener has decided to banish pesticides and other chemicals, and to be helped only by discreet workers, the insects. As we dive into the heart of this plant kingdom, we discover thousands of tiny lives that organize themselves as in a micro-society: decomposing insects, recyclers, pollinators, the workers of the garden work to maintain a fragile balance within the vegetable garden. As the plants grow and begin to produce their first vegetables, the incredible interactions between insects and plants help protect the future harvest. But it is also their personal stories that punctuate the life of the garden. Between parades, mutual aid and attempted putsch, the story of the vegetable garden thus takes the form of a true nature tale.

Insecticide, mon amour

November 2015 •French

Liquid Crystals

December 1978 •French

Title cards introduce images we watch without narration; they are displays of shape and color. François de Roubaix's electronic music accompanies these images, photographed under a polarizing microscope. The crystals appear to move like tiny organisms: small four-part fans share the frame with flowing lines of pink. Multiple patterns appear side by side.

Bugz

January 1996 •English

"Incredible," "beautiful" and "exotic" are only a few of the words (besides "eek!") that describe Bugz. Everything from bugs you'd recognize to bugs you've never seen before (thank goodness!) creeping, jumping, fluttering, squirming and scurrying across your TV screen.

biopixels

Invalid date •English

Shot at two cutting-edge research labs which specialize in the evolution of butterflies and moths, BIopixels is an animated short film exploring the world of evolutionary biology on the microscopic scale. The images - rendered from collections containing over 50,000 specimens - were take by microscopists over three years to create the animated shorts Nanoscapes and Biopixels. Both the animation and the score play with concepts of pattern, time, density and other means of development common to biological evolution.