Ecological interdependence, co-creation, resilience and collaboration in nature – these are the topics dealt with in this documentary film, viewed against the backdrop of our increasingly threatened environment.

Beyond the poles of nostalgia and techno-futurism, the film’s impressive images provide an insight into natural processes and systems. 

Dead forest in Central Europe is becoming living forest again. Floating beds in Bangladesh are taking on climate change. In the dunes of China’s desert regions, thousands of people are working on the largest renaturalisation project in the world. In the Danube Delta between Romania and Ukraine, old dams from the Soviet era are being dismantled so that a European wetland can once again become a biodiverse natural landscape.

Today, the fascinating world of fungi and mycelia has already become a blueprint for futuristic, cutting-edge projects in architecture and sustainable fashion.

Jellyfish, which are among the oldest forms of life on the planet and display unique survival strategies, have unlimited potential – and not just for medicine and cosmetics.

The age-old knowledge of agriculture called permaculture is also being revived, for instance at the Krameterhof farm in the Salzburg mountains, where it is being employed to create a living biotope.

What is being researched in the agricultural laboratories at Wageningen University in the Netherlands is no different: there, cyclically orientated and ecologically based processes are being developed with the help of artificial intelligence – not only to defy climate change, but also to preserve and protect the urgently needed biodiversity.

All these examples have one thing in common: the fact that partial, individual interests never form the focus of attention. It is the unconditional cooperation of non-human actors that makes ecosystems strong and resilient.

Nature as a role model and a potential game changer for future-oriented, innovative adaptation strategies? This film highlights some successful approaches to tackling our current ecological challenges.

 

Director’s Statement

In my new film, ELEMENTS OF(F) BALANCE, I view nature as an active protagonist, as a mysterious and complex, interconnected system in which resilience, co-creation, and collaboration form the basis for survival and diversity, as they have always done. At a time of massive ecological challenges, I am interested in how we can learn from these natural strategies. The film invites us to view nature as a potential game changer, opening up perspectives on how we as humanity can shape an uncertain future, working together with nature rather than against it. Not in nostalgic retrospection, not in blind techno-futurism, but with an attitude of attentiveness and cooperation.

The different episodes in the film take us to various places on Earth. To places at breaking point and places of hope, in equal measure: to dead forests that are in the process of regenerating, to the floating gardens of Bangladesh, to renaturation projects in China and the Danube Delta, to visionary workshops creating materials from mushrooms, and to regions where permaculture is producing astonishing successes. A look at Dutch agricultural laboratories which employ AI shows that the future is created where cycles are enclosed and biodiversity is preserved.

To make these transformation processes visible, I use a cinematic language that combines observation with poetry. The Athena myth serves as a guideline: something is out of balance and the broken bond must be reestablished. The camera and sound linger, listen and switch between wide angles and close-ups, between structuralist rigour and organic sensuality. Sound, image, and editing endow the whole with a resonance space, in which science, experience, and nature are woven together into a shared narrative.

At the heart of it all is a simple but radical insight: it is not individual interests that make systems strong and resilient, but rather co-creative, collaborative cooperation. With this in mind, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the protagonists in my documentary film, as well as to my creative film team Stephan Settele (co-author & research), Arthur Summereder (drone & editing), Siri Klug (camera), Andreas Hamza (sound & sound design), Christian Fennesz (music), Hanne Lassl and Susanna Harrer (production management & film management), as well as everyone else involved, for their substantial input and constructive collaboration.

 

A2025 98min Cinemascope