Expired March 28, 2022 3:45 AM
Already unlocked? for access
Films in this virtual screening are eligible for audience awards! The voting period has closed. Stay tuned for the results!
Protected ContentThis content can only be viewed in authorized regions: United States of America, Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands (U.S.), American Samoa.

Screening includes a pre-recorded filmmaker Q&A.


Screening only available to viewers in the United States and its territories.


Our experience of nature is often constrained by a limited perspective. Blending microscopic and macroscopic worlds with holistic organization, these shorts offer a visual journey that reexamines the ecology of our environment.

Takes the viewer into the unseen world of living microscopic plankton. It is a voyage into a secret universe, inhabited by alien-like creatures. These stunningly beautiful, very diverse and numerous organisms are unknown to most of us, because they are invisible to the naked eye. However, they are wandering beneath the surface of every water around us. They play an important role in the production of oxygen, the aquatic food web and the carbon life cycle.


Jan van IJken filmed the plankton through his microscopes, revealing the beauty and delicate structures of the minute organisms in the finest detail. The film is without any voice-over or explanation.

Renowned Norwegian artist Jana Winderen made a sound composition for the film. She recorded sounds of all kinds of aquatic creatures, waves, ice-bergs, etc.

  • Year
    2021
  • Runtime
    15 minutes
  • Country
    Netherlands
  • Premiere
    U.S. Premiere
  • Director
    Jan van IJken