Elements of(f) Balance

AT 2025, 98 min, Othmar Schmiderer

Ecological interdependence, co-creation, resilience and collaboration in nature – these are the topics dealt with in this documentary film, viewed against the backdrop of our increasingly threatened environment.

Beyond the poles of nostalgia and techno-futurism, the film’s impressive images provide an insight into natural processes and systems.

Dead forest in Central Europe is becoming living forest again. Floating beds in Bangladesh are taking on climate change. In the dunes of China’s desert regions, thousands of people are working on the largest renaturalisation project in the world. In the Danube Delta between Romania and Ukraine, old dams from the Soviet era are being dismantled so that a European wetland can once again become a biodiverse natural landscape.

Today, the fascinating world of fungi and mycelia has already become a blueprint for futuristic, cutting-edge projects in architecture and sustainable fashion.

Jellyfish, which are among the oldest forms of life on the planet and display unique survival strategies, have unlimited potential – and not just for medicine and cosmetics.

The age-old knowledge of agriculture called permaculture is also being revived, for instance at the Krameterhof farm in the Salzburg mountains, where it is being employed to create a living biotope.

What is being researched in the agricultural laboratories at Wageningen University in the Netherlands is no different: there, cyclically orientated and ecologically based processes are being developed with the help of artificial intelligence – not only to defy climate change, but also to preserve and protect the urgently needed biodiversity.

All these examples have one thing in common: the fact that partial, individual interests never form the focus of attention. It is the unconditional cooperation of non-human actors that makes ecosystems strong and resilient.

Nature as a role model and a potential game changer for future-oriented, innovative adaptation strategies? This film highlights some successful approaches to tackling our current ecological challenges.