Aquatica: The Underwater Mushroom

When the Water Stops Flowing

Jonathan Stavleu explores, in a stream-of-consciousness video essay, the relationship people have with water and what happens when access to it is taken away. For this work, he examines anecdotal histories he has heard from Estonians, as well as stories from his own family history in the Netherlands, weaving them together into a journal-like narrative.

The Flood

The decision to move to Holland doesn't sound like a wise idea. Why move to a country that could be flooded at any moment? For the last 25 years, the political climate has shifted. The public debate on migration has become harsher, more heated, and polarized. What would have been considered right-wing xenophobia back then, is now considered mainstream. Populists simplify complex realities into good and evil, victims and perpetrators: ‘us’ versus ‘them’. Their rhetoric often consists of dehumanizing words and metaphors. One of these is ‘water’. In reality, water is not an immediate threat to the average Dutch person; but it is a huge threat to the thousands trying to reach the Netherlands. People trying to survive the Mediterranean Sea in rubber boats. Trying to survive winter on the Aegean coast in primitive tents. To them, water really is deadly.

Swim Sistas

Swim Sistas follows the swimming journeys of three very different Black girls/women as barriers are broken down in the water.

A puddle of water held in shape by my thoughts

"Water reflections are never static, its fluid form constantly plays with the light in new and totally unique ways. Trying to capture this process naturally leads to an imperfect representation. Embracing this, ‘a puddle of water held in shape by my thoughts’ plays with the materiality of the digital image with the border between digital grain and the movement of the water constantly blurring. This ongoing research project consists of clips recorded over the last two years. - During the Leaving Space exhibition (2024) the work was presented as an installation using an old LCD screen, a wash-stool and other spacial elements. The space where the screen was installed could only be observed from the outside through the glass doors but not entered.

The Mushroom Speaks

The film takes on a walk alongside parasites, symbionts and decomposers offering ideas of both interconnectedness and collaboration. Driven by a vision of resistance, the encounters seek possibilities of renewal and question what connects us when the world seems to be falling apart. With mushrooms and their allies the film invites to imagine a myco-cultural (r)evolution. What if the fungus could help us address and radically change our relationship to this world?

Mar Urbano Lisboa

Y aura-t-il de l’eau cet été ?

Through encounters with a hydrologist, a farmer, and citizens mobilized around the Marais Poitevin, the director helps us understand the effects—on biodiversity and the state of rivers—of substitution reservoirs, also known as megabassins. For several years, Anne-Morwenn, David, Patrick, Yann, and others have been fighting for fair water sharing and devising ways to convince as many people as possible that it is time to change the agricultural model.

Water: Fluid For Life

This instructional film reveals the decisive role that water has played and is still playing in the emergence and survival of life on earth.

Killer Shark Vs. Killer Whale

Scientists dive deep on the mysterious and unusual predatory behavior of orcas attacking great white sharks, and the disappearance of the other sharks after these attacks.

The beauty of April

The beauty of April, the sun, when the joy of life returns.

Berbères des cimes

At the heart of the Moroccan High Atlas mountains, water is a resource in short supply. The village of Tizi N'Oucheg has undergone a transformation thanks to Rachid Mandili, who is well-aware that the development of his village depends on access to clean water and on his strong leadership of this project. Mandili rallies all the villagers together and calls upon the knowledge of French and Moroccan scientists to tap water sources, to purify, and reuse waste water for irrigation. The documentary highlights the Berbers' community ties and ingenuity in their dream of independently managing their village water resources. It equally paints a portrait of a man whose initiative and resourcefulness has opened Tizi N'Oucheg up to modernity while still conserving its cultural heritage. Tizi's example presents some of the problems of water access in semi-arid regions and puts forward concrete solutions to these problems.

The Terror of the Gulls

A renowned expert begins an investigation into the origins of seagulls and their unsettling behavior. Where did they come from and where are they going next? Is this just a local mystery or the beginning of something far worse?

Andrei Tarkovsky: WATER

A visual and interpretative journey through the filmography of Andrei Tarkovsky, in search of the hidden meaning behind the recurring presence of water — a central and mysterious element in his work. This video essay analyzes the scenes in which water appears, organizing them by theme: from everyday actions to metaphysical moments. An attempt to understand whether, behind the poetry of natural elements, lies a deeper message from the russian filmmaker.

The Dowsers

Filmmakers Jordan Reclus and Mathieu Ciulla travel through the South of France, investigating an elusive water vein with the help of water engineers and well-known local dowsers. A documentary offering a glimpse into the unsuspected routine of water through the little-known prism of dowsing. Water does not always seem to flow the right way…

Fungi: The One Hundred Thousand

Explains that there are approximately 100,000 species of fungi known to science, and that these simple plants are both harmful and beneficial to humans. Uses photomicrography to show the parts of the fungus and time-lapse photography to illustrate growth and reproduction.

Under Quabbin

Beneath the millions of gallons of water that flow into homes across eastern Massachusetts is a story of buried history, scientific discovery, & individual hopes & dreams destroyed in the name of progress. Edward Klekowski, a UMass biology professor with a passion for scuba diving, chronicles an unprecedented search for the remains of four lost towns under the Quabbin Reservoir in Belchertown, MA

The Breath Connection

A portrait of free diver Kathryn Nevatt, former World Champion and current New Zealand record holder in all three disciplines.