Equilibrium

Planet Earth, as a natural and sociopolitical environment, exists in a careful balance. But it is shifting — the modern human world alters ecosystems and landscape on a massive scale, and the fact of climate change is undeniable. But whereas our bodies inherently seek to maintain homeostasis and keep themselves upright against gravity and entropy, it’s less clear what forces may keep larger planetary systems together. This program turns around the idea of equilibrium on simultaneously personal and global scales, with a special attention to how human actions break the symmetry around us, or yet seek to reestablish it.

FILMS

The Return | 30 min | Fatma Al Ghanim & Shaima Al Ameri | UAE | 2015

A colorful international team of zoologists, vets and games keepers work together to bring the Arabian Oryx, the symbol of Arabia, back to its native habitat in the Abu Dhabi desert after near extinction.

Rare Earthenware | 7 min | Toby Smith | UK | 2015

While journeys to extraordinary places are the cornerstone of luxury travel, this project follows the hidden path of rare earth elements, widely used in high-end electronics, back to their origins.

The Water in Ourselves | 16 min | Omar Shoukri | UAE | 2015

Five individuals, following different paths through the subtly dystopian net of the modern world, are united in the essential element of water and search for something even more essential.

Cycle | 2 min | Deniz Tarsus | Turkey | 2015

“Life is pleasant. Death is Peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” -Isaac Asimov

Every Palsy Has a Silver Lining | 8 min | Adéla Komrzý | Czech Republic | 2014

Left disabled after an illness, a child is recruited into an obscure experiment in balance. A documentary recollection of an experiment presented as a hallucinatory memory reenactment.

Gravity | 1 min | Clemens Wirth | Austria | 2015

Analog experiments with gravity.

The Guardian of the Mangroves | 9 min | Alexis Gambis | UAE | 2015

Fatouh, the guardian of the Mangroves, has not been seen for some time. Some say he left after disputes with local tribes while others claim that it was due to increasing destruction and pollution of these ecosystems in the Arabian Gulf.

Followed by Q&As with directors in attendance