With its patient camerawork and immersive, highly accurate soundscape, this film invites us to follow the actions of scientists and citizen groups as they monitor and compile data on frogs, starfish, insects, and bats. Their words coexist with voice-over readings of literary excerpts in different forms and approaches, expressing a plural discourse on the accelerating changes in the biodiversity of fragile ecosystems. Often filmed at night, landscapes plunged into darkness are outlined by beams of light that reveal, in sections, their floral, animal, and human elements. Both meditative and informative, Just Above the Surface of the Earth is a skillful dialogue between science and art. (HSB)

Just Above the Surface of the Earth (For a Coming Extinction)