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Ready for a new perspective? Since 2023, Ammodo Docs has been presenting short documentaries about the work of groundbreaking scientists and artists. Through the lens of renowned Dutch filmmakers, you get to see how original thinkers address the challenges of today.
Ammodo Docs. Forward-thinking films.

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1. Standaard still Dear Home of Scars

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A new installation by Ibrahim Mahama exposes the colonial ‘scars in the landscape’ in Northern Ghana – and inspires the local community.

In Dear Home of Scars, we see celebrated visual artist Ibrahim Mahama return to his hometown of Tamale in Northern Ghana to visit Red Clay Studio, a lively cultural centre and art space he founded, where he works on a new art installation involving old colonial railcars and the reconstruction of a stretch of track. During British rule of Ghana (1821-1957), the colonisers used trains to transport gold and other resources to the coast. Remnants of track now lie abandoned as silent reminders of this history of exploitation. They are ‘scars in the landscape’, in the words of Mahama.
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The project brings new energy and self-awareness to local residents. Meanwhile, Mahama reflects on his role as a sought-after artist and builder of local communities.

Dear Home of Scars

Dear Home of Scars - AmmodoDocs

In Three Acts, world-renowned opera director Pierre Audi unpacks the elements needed to open a world of fantasy and dreams: stage design, singers and audience. 

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1. Standaard still Three Acts

Opera as an artform can be approached from various angles – the music, the singers, the stage design. Then there is the story, the emotion, the ideas. How does one combine these elements into an event which opens the door to fantasy and dreams?
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In Three Acts, world-renowned opera director Pierre Audi gives us a glimpse behind the scenes. As we watch him prepare for a rendition of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra in Tokyo (with stage design by visual artist Anish Kapoor), he shares his vision for the genre. According to Audi, the dramatic world on stage can bring us more in touch with contemporary issues than reading the news ever could. In the theatre you offer hope, he says. “You help people find a connection with themselves.”

Three Acts

Three Acts - AmmodoDocs

Using the laws of physics to build a revolutionary quantum internet before 2030? Stephanie Wehner believes it can be done. 

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1. Standaard Still Moonshot Mission

In 1969 the first message was successfully sent on the internet, heralding a revolution in communication technology. Today, we are on the eve of a new revolution: that of the quantum internet, a fundamentally new way of communicating which relies on the laws of quantum mechanics and is inherently secure, inherently stable and incredibly efficient. This paves the way for applications that haven’t even been thought of yet.
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Quantum scientist and former hacker Stephanie Wehner is on a mission to develop the first operational quantum internet network before 2030. A daunting task, which some would even call crazy, but Wehner believes she can do it – not only by writing scientific articles, but simply by building it.

Moonshot Mission

Moonshot Mission - AmmodoDocs

Intrigued by their skilful way of rolling sailboats up and down the beach, visual artist Jonathas de Andrade attempts to capture the ingenious choreography of the traditional jangadeiros (sailors).

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1. Standaard still Northern Winds

Growing up, visual artist Jonathas de Andrade was fascinated by the jangadeiros (sailors) operating the traditional fishing boats in his hometown of Maceio, Brazil. In Northern Winds, we follow him as he visits this community of workers to film their craft (which now serves tourism) for a new artwork.
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Intrigued by their skilful way of rolling the sailboats up and down the beach, De Andrade tries to capture their ingenious choreography. Far from romanticising their way of life, however, he creates a testament to their precarious existence in a country where unequal power structures are painfully and at times violently apparent.

Northern Winds

Northern Winds - AmmodoDocs

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Evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers takes us along on her epic quest to map the world’s fungi networks and understand their behaviour before it’s too late.

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Still The Underground Astronaut (incl. laurels)

Beneath our feet lies a mystery. A complex underground network of mycorrhizal fungi keeps our ecosystem alive by exchanging nutrients and carbon with almost all plants on Earth. Remarkably, no one knows exactly how these sophisticated and ancient systems operate, or how they are affected by climate change.
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The Underground Astronaut follows evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers, named one of the 2022 <a href="https://time.com/collection/time100-next-2022/6213878/toby-kiers/">TIME100 Next Innovators</a>, on her quest to map the world’s fungi networks and understand their behaviour before it’s too late. A fragrant and urgent journey underground. “No fungi, no future.”

The Underground Astronaut

The Underground Astronaut | Watch the film about Toby Kiers

In his multimedia operas, composer and director Michel van der Aa explores the big themes of our digitised age, contemplating existential questions in the border area between humans, machines and consciousness.

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Still In Between Realities (incl. laurels)

How does technology transform humanity? Do we need a body to be human? In his multidisciplinary work, composer and director Michel van der Aa explores the big themes of our digitised age and contemplates existential questions in the border area between humans, machines and consciousness.
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Van der Aa re-energises the world of opera. Whether his VR goggles are on or off, he is always looking towards the future. In Between Realities shows him working on a new music theatre project, crossing the boundaries between remembering and forgetting, reality and unreality, life and death. Together with actors and avatars he forges new paths into the metaverse.

In Between Realities

In Between Realities | Watch the film about Michel van der Aa

Visual artist Aimée Zito Lema shows how art can function as a medium for memory work as she grapples with the violent parts of Argentinian history.

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Still Dimension of Absence (incl. laurels)

Although she didn’t personally experience the last Argentinian military junta (1976-1983), Argentinian-Dutch visual artist Aimée Zito Lema grew up in the shadow of the violent history that affected her country and family. At a young age, she grew fascinated with archival photographs of people who dared to risk their lives by resisting Jorge Videla’s military regime.
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On a visit to Buenos Aires, she includes her daughter in a performative art piece in which they embody the past and imagine a new future, showing the way art can function as a medium for memory work across countries and generations.

Dimension of Absence

Dimension of Absence | Watch the film about Aimée Zito Lema

Choreographic theatre artist Nicole Beutler combines a strong artistic vision with democratic participation as she evokes our planet’s demise on stage.

In an ongoing series of theatre productions, Nicole Beutler explores how humans are inflicting irreversible damage on planet earth. What does our future look like? Her plays envision the necessary transformation of the position of humans on earth: the end of the Anthropocene takes centre stage. She describes this process as “going into the dark with your eyes wide open”.
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Beutler combines a strong artistic vision with room for joint decision-making. By inviting her team to bring their own visions to the table, she creates a collective work of art while challenging traditional conceptions of leadership.
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In the film, we see Nicole Beutler working on GINKGO or: 56 million years ago there were palm trees on the North Pole. A confrontational dance opera about the end of the world as we know it, and the first performance of her RITUALS OF TRANSFORMATION trilogy.

Eyes Wide Open

Eyes Wide Open | Watch the documentary about Nicole Beutler

Mountain hydrologist Walter Immerzeel ventures to high altitudes in the Himalayas to collect the 
precise meteorological data needed to predict the consequences of climate change.


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Moving Mountains + Laurels

To map the effects of climate change, mountain hydrologist Walter Immerzeel and his team venture to remote altitudes where other scientists do not go. From his tent base camp in the Himalayas, he collects data on precipitation, temperature, atmospheric pressure, solar irradiance, windspeed and more using over 200 measuring instruments.
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These data must be extremely accurate in order to reliably predict changes in the region’s water cycle – which is of crucial importance for the millions of people who live in the climate-sensitive areas downstream. In Moving Mountains, filmmaker and mountaineer Renko Douze follows Immerzeel on one of his mountain expeditions.

Moving Mountains

Moving Mountains | Watch the doc about Walter Immerzeel

Trailblazing neuroscientist Eveline Crone takes us on an animated journey into the brain as she champions the scientific value of intuition.

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Stills '23 incl. laurels

What is intuition? And how can gut feelings influence science? Known for her extensive research into adolescent brain development, neuroscientist Eveline Crone proposes that intuition is an aspect of the mind worth studying and embracing. In her scientific career, her own gut feelings have often led the way to new insights.
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In The Guts of the Neuroscientist, Crone takes us on a journey through an abstract landscape of morphing white lines as she contemplates the development and the future of neuroscience.

The Guts of the Neuroscientist

The Guts of the Neuroscientist | Watch the film about Eveline Crone

Neuroscientist Jeroen Geurts feels like he is walking through a dark forest as he searches for the 
cause of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Neuroscientist Jeroen Geurts has dedicated his career to finding the cause of multiple sclerosis, a brain disease affecting millions. He hopes to find a cure within ten years.
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Unsure of what exactly he is looking for, his mission feels like wandering through a dark forest. Following his intuition, he searches in places others have neglected. Geurts says he is trying to find something which “language cannot yet grasp”, and emphasises the role of metaphors in this scientific field riddled with mysteries.

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Watch the documentaries

Ibrahim Mahama
In Dear Home of Scars

Pierre Audi
In Three Acts

Stephanie Wehner
In Moonshot Mission

Jonathas de Andrade
In Northern Winds

Pioneers

Watch the documentaries

Ibrahim MahamaIn Dear Home of Scars

Pierre AudiIn Three Acts

Stephanie WehnerIn Moonshot Mission

Jonathas de AndradeIn Northern Winds

Pioneers

Ibrahim Mahama
In Dear Home of Scars

Pierre Audi
In Three Acts

Stephanie Wehner
In Moonshot Mission

Jonathas de Andrade
In Northern Winds