Inside you there is a largely unexplored universe of 100 trillion bacteria. In this documentary, we embark on a journey into this microcosmos to discover the beauty and complexity of life's origin at the nanoscale.
In 2023 Essentia Foundation's Hans Busstra created a documentary about bacteria that depicts our common ancestor in a never-before-seen manner. With the world’s leading artists in microscopy, like micro-photographer Wim van Egmond, SEM microscopist Jan Dijksterhuis, and a molecular cell biologist and his team at Digizyme Inc., he embarked on a unique mission: to capture the
first moving images of a single bacterium at the molecular scale.
Read Hans Busstra's essay on his journey here:
Watch the making-of:
For more info:
This film was made possible by Winclove Probiotics:
Director and editor
Hans Busstra
Camera
Robijn Voshol, Nanko Goeting, Rutger Nijkamp, Jeannie Park, Hans Busstra
Microscopic photography
Wim van Egmond
Sound recordists
Daan Arens, Daan van de Geest
Sound design
Sam Huisman
Grading
Michiel Rummens
Finishing
Jan Jaap Kuipers
Synthesizer recordings Prelude in C, Bach
Eelco Topper
Research and assistant director
Esmée van Loon
Impact production
Erik Vermunt
Producer
Mariëlle Baars
Animations by Digizyme Inc.
Gaël McGill, Jeannie Park, Jonathan Khao, Brittany Cheung, Eric Keller, Brinton Jaecks
Eukaryotic Landscape
created by Evan Ingersoll & Gaël McGill, Digizyme Inc.
Digizyme B-roll footage
Jeannie Park
Molecular visuals & simulations created with Molecular Maya (mMaya).
The production of this documentary has been greatly enriched by the resources provided by the Protein Data Bank (PDB), the Orientations of Proteins in Membranes (OPM) database, the Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks (MICrONS) Explorer project, and the insights from the research paper "Integrative Illustration of Escherichia coli" by David Goodsell.
All stock music is licensed under Soundstripe subscription:
Soundstripe
Stock-images are licensed:
Shutterstock
Thanks to all Micronauts on screen:
Wim van Egmond, Bruce Damer , Rosanne Hertzberger, Gael McGill, Jasper Buikx
Ger Rijkers, Marca van de Vloed, Fieke van de Vloed, Karen Koning, Coline Gerritsen, Maarten Pekelharing, Jan Dijksterhuis, Jos Seegers, Marco van Es, Fleur van Eeden, Marjolijn van Heemstra, Najat Kadour.
And thanks to all other Micronauts:
Tara Corduwener, Manon Bezemer, Elske van Dijk, Rianne Hagen, Tim van der Maas, Marjan Schellinger, Gizem Yikilmaz, Sarah Meeuws, Remco Kort, Marten Smidt, Hilde Herrema
With a very special thanks to:
Winclove Probiotics, Artis Micropia, Bac2Nature, MyMicroZoo, Universiteit van Amsterdam Amsterdam UMC, De Nacht-Wacht
Copyright © 2023 by Essentia Foundation, Spiegelfilm and Winclove Probiotics.