Pesticides wipe out the insects, the oil spills into the ocean, the forests burn: In 1994, director Laila Rakvåg let a bird fly over and through the ecological, human-made hotspots that plague us even today to a far worse extent. Sometimes the bird is able to land in beautiful natural surroundings, but the rest is never permanent, paradise is always on the brink of the next hellish transformation. The further the bird flies, the more human its features become: It becomes a baby that is then actually born – and carries the memories of the bird in its newly opened eyes. We are inseparably linked to nature; what we do to it, we do to ourselves: Rakvåg’s film is an activist plea for more empathy with our planet and a change of thinking, told from the perspective of an expectant mother.

Marie Ketzscher

A tiny fish swims through a huge underwater world. It is loud and hectic at times. He would love nothing better than to hide behind the other fish. Is he too small to see the world as the big ones see it? Drawn in enchanting blue and green watercolours, this animation shows that there is no such thing as too big or too small. And wouldn’t it be lovely if we could all fly up to heaven in a big bubble in the end?

Lina Dinkla