Origin

A three minute film inspired by the life and work of Charles Darwin as part of Darwin Originals, a series of films to celebrate Darwin, commissioned and produced by Artsadmin and DVDance, supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.

As a starting point for the film, I used the last paragraph of The Origin of the Species in which Darwin takes us through the cycles of life and death, making us aware that all species are made of the same matter and operate by the same energy and laws. He concludes “from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

I worked with a long-term collaborator, the composer Janusz Podrazik, who has spent the last year on a major work called Darwin’s Passion. We have worked together to form a sound collage with voice and orchestral effects to parallel the visual pace of the film.

The film can be viewed here.