Warning: this film features sequences of flashing light that could be unsuitable for photosensitive viewers.
Since 1990, scientists have gone from merely speculating about the existence of exoplanets to having identified some 5,000 and counting. And beyond just discovering them, increasingly powerful telescopes and new detection techniques are helping astronomers determine the astoundingly diverse forms that planets can take. This sprawling work from the US filmmaker and musician John D Boswell (also known as Melodysheep) melds hard science with informed speculation to take viewers on an interstellar journey to some of the most fascinating exoplanets scientists have yet discovered. Via a futuristic interstellar spaceship, Boswell sends viewers on an operatic, 3D-animated tour of nearby solar systems, revealing Earth-like planets that could potentially harbour life, as well as far-out worlds of metal clouds, burning ice, double sunsets and breathtaking auroras.
Video by Melodysheep
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Technology and the self
Greetings from Green Bank – the small town where modern technology is banned
10 minutes
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Human evolution
Far from frivolous, cuteness is a powerful – and still mysterious – force of nature
6 minutes
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Dance and theatre
How a Noh mask-maker summons a lifelike face from a single block of wood
16 minutes
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The ancient world
What wine vessels reveal about politics and luxury in ancient Athens and Persia
16 minutes
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Art
David Goldblatt captured the contradictions of apartheid in stark black and white
15 minutes
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Space exploration
In the search for life, might alien ocean worlds be a better bet than Earth-like planets?
5 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
Is simulation theory a way to shirk responsibility for the world we’ve created?
13 minutes
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Biology
A dazzling slice-by-slice exploration of wood exposes hidden patterns and hues
2 minutes
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Family life
In Rwanda, Sébastien finds traces of personal history in the wake of national tragedy
21 minutes