While travelling through Japan and working on organic farms, the UK filmmaker Steve Atkins found himself entranced by the movement of light and shadows formed by the interplay of trees, wind and sunlight on the landscape. The Japanese have a unique word for this occurrence: komorebi. Atkins celebrates the ethereal beauty of komorebi in this short film, which features fleeting scenes of the phenomenon that he captured during his time in Japan. In doing so, he offers a gentle reminder to, in his words, ‘reconsider how we see the passing light of each day; to slow down and observe the natural theatre that plays out unseen beside the busyness of our modern lives.’
For more from Atkins, watch his short documentary Épinard.
Director: Steve Atkins
Music: Rob Martland
videoNature and landscape
Scenes from Aboriginal Australian pottery chart the turn of the seasons
7 minutes
videoNature and landscape
After independence, Mexico was in search of identity. These paintings offered a blueprint
15 minutes
videoMathematics
Spiral into the ‘golden ratio’ – and separate the myths from the maths
4 minutes
videoConsciousness and altered states
What do screens depicting serene natural scenes mean to those living in lock-up?
12 minutes
videoArchitecture
A lush tour of Fallingwater – the Frank Lloyd Wright design that changed architecture
14 minutes
videoHome
Life moves slowly in a Romanian mountain village, shaped by care and the seasons
13 minutes
videoNature and landscape
‘A culture is no better than its woods’ – what our trees reveal about us, by W H Auden
5 minutes
videoLanguage and linguistics
Do button-pushing dogs have something new to say about language?
9 minutes
videoNature and landscape
California’s landscapes provide endless inspiration for a woodcut printmaker
10 minutes