Projects in genres: Science

Synopsis

Adopting the form of a video game trailer, 'Immunecraft' is an animation developed in collaboration with immunologist Dr Megan MacLeod and presents a fictional game which gives users agency over a real life cell culture to compete against opponent players, and explores the parallels between popular gameplay mechanics and some of the most important principles of the human immune system, including cell memory and autoimmunity. It understands itself as a piece of speculative design futures, commenting on the principles of multiplayer online gaming in the age of DNA building blocks, printable organic electronics and biohacking, thus raising questions about bioethics.

Synopsis

A film exploring what can be seen and what can not, how scientists imagine their work and how they describe it. The film is based on the work undertaken in Dr Serge Mostowy’s laboratory on septin assembly in cells, using a zebrafish model. Lab members describe the intricate sub-cellular septin dynamics and structure. Their explanatory drawings, and discussion between scientists and filmmaker about how they see the research, are incorporated into the animation.

Synopsis

This piece exposes the parallels of computer coding and genetic coding in humans and animals. Voiced by an anonymous group of ‘hybrid’ machines, from some point in the near future, these ‘narrators’ look at these creatures as inefficient machines and consider ways of editing and improving their code. The film draws upon the research and tools used by Dr Darren Logan in his investigation of genetically influenced behaviour.

Synopsis

In June 2015 Alex Smith completed an Ironman triathlon, known as the toughest single day challenge you can undertake, carrying his 40kg disabled son the whole way. An epic achievement for his son, who is dying from a fatal muscle wasting disease: Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Synopsis

A young boy releases a cloud into a church and it builds to a storm. Elwood’s Ark is a poem that challenges notions of religion and redemption. It traces the journey of the water we drink, back 13.8 billion years through time and space to the beginning of the Universe. Spoken in the words of a child, the film warns of a coming apocalypse. It is an apocalypse of our own making - an apocalypse in which divine intervention will not play a part, and only we ourselves may prevent.

Synopsis

A film about us. It's a film about you, your children, your parents, your friends. It's about every one of us. It's about our failure: failure as individuals, the failure of business, and the failure of our politicians. It is about an unprecedented planetary emergency. It's about the future of us Based on scientist Stephen Emmot's eye-opening lecture on humanity's biggest threat: overpopulation.

Synopsis

Marla Coppolino has an unusual passion for the world’s smallest dwellers: land snails. In between science and art, Marla brings you into their tiny world. She embarks on a mission to enlighten you to the plight of the lowly land snail through creative, bizarre and unconventional means.

Synopsis

"The Democratic Republic of Congo is home to one of the world's richest seams of copper, coltan and other minerals increasingly sought after by Western electronics consumers. Rather than improving life for the world's poorest people, however, billions of dollars have been redirected to British companies' tax havens and to local militia. Fuelling a war that has cost 5 million lives and counting since 1996, it may one day come to be known as the worst human atrocity in modern history. Can we stop it?" EIFF 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015 - World premiere

Synopsis

A mysterious condition compels a young man to run at night in a euphoric trance, creating a rift between him and his family.

Synopsis

A visually impaired young man awakes from unconsciousness to find the aftermath of a global catastrophe caused by environmental damage. Using his other senses he tries to come to terms with the devastation in his immediate environment. An eco-disaster short that shows the effects on an urban household.

Synopsis

Parents and health care workers are caught in the cross-hairs of violence and politics as they attempt to protect their children from Polio in Pakistan. Once on the brink of eradication, the disease has again become a global threat - with Pakistan at its epicenter. Will these everyday heroes succeed and end Polio in our lifetime, or will another young generation be at risk?

Synopsis

In 1963 Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to go into space. Fifty years later, she gave the interview which forms the basis of this film.