Elements Of(f) Balance

Ecological interconnections, co-creation, resilience, and collaboration in nature – this is the subject of this documentary, set against the backdrop of our increasingly endangered world facing immense ecological challenges. Beyond the poles of nostalgia and techno-futurism, the film’s episodes provide insights into natural processes and systems. Dead forests in Central Europe are becoming living woods again. Floating gardens in Bangladesh take on climate change. In the dunes of China’s desert regions, thousands of people work on the largest rewilding project in the world. In the Danube Delta between Romania and Ukraine, old Soviet-era dams are being dismantled so that a European wetland can once again become a biodiverse natural landscape.

The fascinating world of fungi and mycelium already serves as a blueprint for futuristic, avant-garde projects in architecture and sustainable fashion. Cinematic explorations of ecological entanglements and interactions between human and non-human actors lead into stories about the remarkable survival strategies of jellyfish, among the oldest living beings on Earth. Permaculture – this ancient knowledge in agriculture – is also being revived, creating vibrant biotopes, such as on the Krameterhof in the Salzburg mountains.

What is being researched in the agricultural laboratories of Wageningen University in the Netherlands does not stand in contrast: here, circular and bio-based processes are being developed with the help of Artificial Intelligence – not only to withstand climate change but also to preserve and protect urgently needed biodiversity.

All of these examples have one thing in common: partial individual interests never take center stage. It is unconditional cooperation that makes ecosystems strong and resilient. Nature as a model and as a possible game changer for forward-looking, innovative adaptation strategies? A film about possible approaches to meeting today’s ecological challenges.