Save
Tweet
Share
Aeon Video has a monthly newsletter!
Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
Why has the US military been flying a balloon over Kabul since 2009?
In Kabul, the bustle of the city – shopping, work, conversation and play – takes place beneath a mysterious US military balloon that has hovered in the sky since 2009. Ominous yet somehow part of the landscape given its omnipresence, the balloon’s precise purpose and capabilities are not disclosed. Part of The Intercept’s Field of Vision documentary series, The Above is both an apt metaphor for the state of global surveillance, and an unsettling glimpse into the increasingly common experience of living with unfamiliar, unwelcome objects overhead.
Director: Kirsten Johnson
Producers: Kirsten Johnson, Marilyn Ness
Editor: Nels Bangerter
Aeon is not-for-profit and free for everyone
Make a donationGet Aeon straight to your inbox
Join our newsletter
video
Work
Emergency first responders meet chaos with dissonant calm in this gripping short
9 minutes
video
The ancient world
Not a lost kingdom but a parable – how to read Athens in Plato’s story of Atlantis
24 minutes
video
Public health
When two punk bands came to a psychiatric hospital, beautiful chaos ensued
27 minutes
video
Design and fashion
Gear up for a stylish celebration of vintage motorcycle design
6 minutes
video
The ancient world
A balanced account of Nero’s life reveals the ‘editing and destruction’ of history-making
27 minutes
video
Film and visual culture
Shoddy filmmaking meets the miracle of life in a police training film turned cult classic
11 minutes
video
Human rights and justice
The buzzes, clanks and whirrs of prison life form a meditation on freedom
17 minutes
video
Cognition and intelligence
How a ‘periodic table’ of animal intelligence could help to root out human bias
5 minutes
video
The environment
A climate activist living off-grid faces her toughest challenge yet – a new primary school
21 minutes