Carbon - The Unauthorised Biography. Australia, 89 min, 2022. Genepool Productions and Handful of Films.

Synopsis

With carbon in the news on a daily basis, you might think you know all about it. But you'd be wrong. This spectacular and unorthodox documentary reveals the history of the element that builds all the life we know.
 

Narrated in the first person by the element itself, the documentary chronicles its birth in the violent core of an exploding star and its turbulent sagas through the fabric of our evolving planet. With breathless elation, it reveals how it unlocked the evolution of all life forms, including us. But now, as we humans release vast stores of buried carbon to fuel our world, we are discovering its dark side: carbon both facilitates life and also destroys it. What happens next - reconciliation or ruin - is up to us.

With brilliant animations and a heady soundtrack, celebrated scientists such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Suzanne Simard and Katharine Hayhoe present the complexity of carbon with great clarity and infectious enthusiasm. The epic tale of Carbon - The Unauthorised Biography reminds us of the profound fragility of the natural world and our humble participation in the most extraordinary story of the universe.