Footage from Hong Kong reveals the combustible, contested reality of street protest

‘With the police brutality over the five months, it’s evolved from a political problem into, actually, an ethical one.’
– Pro-democracy protestor, November 2019, Hong Kong

Since being transferred from British to Chinese control in 1997, Hong Kong has operated under a ‘one country, two systems’ framework, which allowed its government relative independence from the Chinese Communist Party, and its people more rights than those living on mainland China. But in February 2019, a proposed bill that would allow extradition to mainland China was viewed by many Hongkongers as a harbinger of human rights violations and political dissent crackdowns to come, sparking a massive pro-democracy protest movement in the region. And although Hong Kong’s government formally withdrew the bill in October 2019, police brutality and worries over continued threats to the political freedoms kept the movement afloat.

Compiled by the Norwegian journalist and filmmaker Anders Hammer between October 2019 and July 2020, Do Not Split is composed of incredible on-the-ground and from-the-air footage of the protests. This dramatic documentary reveals much about the situation in Hong Kong, including the pro-democracy movement’s struggle to survive COVID-19 and a sweeping new national security law imposed by Beijing in June 2020. But beyond the scope of the South China Sea, it’s a telling glimpse into the nature of modern mass protest movements, in which clashes between protestors, counter-protesters and police are on the verge of combusting, and with each scene captured by swarms of cameraphones.

No, Mozart isn’t a brain hack for babies – here’s how music really affects intelligence

In 1991, a small study conducted at the University of California, Irvine found that young adults received a modest brain boost from listening to Mozart before performing small mental tasks. From this, an exaggerated mythology surrounding what became known as ‘the Mozart effect’ emerged, linking exposure to classical music with heightened intelligence – especially in babies. In this animation, the UK broadcaster and psychologist Claudia Hammond dissects how a mania for this Mozart effect took hold, and what the research on music and intelligence actually says. In doing so, the short video also provides a telling look at how academic studies are often distorted and overstated in the media and in the public imagination.

The rhythms of rural Thailand, where both food and music are sourced from the ground

Thai Country Living is a film with a title that doesn’t leave you wondering. This charming short documentary by the UK filmmakers Ben and Dan Tubby (also known as the Tubby Brothers) takes viewers on a brief journey to the Isaan region, in Thailand’s northeast. The host for the trip, Suman Tapkham, provides the home cooking, with ingredients fresh from his small farm; the music comes via a bamboo instrument known as a khaen, which Tapkham crafts by hand; and the warm conversation is largely made of reflections on his life spent in the country, and his worries that the unique culture there might soon be lost. Through their portrait, the Tubby Brothers capture a slice of Thailand far from the bustle of Bangkok most commonly associated with the country, and, for many viewers, a more than welcome portion of armchair travel.

How sky-high dreams launched one man’s audacious life in homemade rocketry

As the first civilian to successfully launch an amateur rocket into space in 2004, and a holder of a great many rocketry-related world records since the 1960s, Ky Michaelson has truly earned his self-anointed title as ‘The Rocketman’. Following a decorated career as a Hollywood stunt performer and coordinator, Michaelson, now aged 82, is retired from show business and spends most of his time building rockets in his garage. And his audacious spirit hasn’t mellowed with age. These days, he has his sights set on launching the first homemade manned rocket into space. This upbeat documentary portrait by the US-based director Rachel Knoll explores Michaelson’s unconventional path as a high-school dropout turned rocket engineer who wouldn’t let dyslexia stop him from aiming for the sky.

The devils you know – how Satan became a versatile stand-in for all manner of evil

From the three-headed man-eater of Dante’s Inferno to the Mephistopheles of German folklore, clad and caped in red in a Goethe-penned stage production, depictions of Satan have mutated into a fearsome multitude of pitchfork-wielding, fire-summoning and otherwise malevolent creatures. But how did a somewhat minor character from the Old Testament evolve into a versatile shorthand for all manner of human evil? Featuring a parade of the many meme-ified devils that have come to permeate the public imagination, this crafty animation from TED-Ed provides a brief history of how some of Satan’s most infamous forms came to be.