A filmmaker’s approach to chemistry experiments produces dazzlingly psychedelic results in this spectacular, scientifically illuminating Australian debut.

When thinking about the world’s natural wonders, it’s likely the big stuff – the mountains, the canyons, the oceans – that first spring to mind. But what about those things you can’t see, such as light, gravity and quantum energy? Using a high-powered camera and absolutely no AI, Melbourne-based filmmaker Josef Gatti makes brilliantly manifest those intangible building blocks of our universe. Across 10 chapters, each dedicated to a single scientific concept, kaleidoscopic Petri dish displays are augmented by tracks from Nils Frahm and British electronic musician Rival Consoles. It’s nature, but like you’ve never seen it before.

Beginning its life a decade ago as a series of shorts, Phenomena takes mesmerising final form as a full-length feature: a masterful melding of art and science that has toured documentary film festivals around the world. Gatti’s articulate and charming voiceover narration – crafted with the assistance of his father, a physics teacher – offers a mind-blowing, singular journey into the hidden world around us. This is the high school science lesson you’ve always wished you had.

“[Gatti] takes a hyper-sensory approach … and in so doing, makes fundamental facts of the universe seem once more beguilingly mysterious to us.” – Variety

Thursday 13 August, 12.30pm, ACMI 
Friday 21 August, 11am, IMAX Melbourne (Melbourne Museum)

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