Underground Farmers

Microcosmos

September 1996 •French

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

Jewels

September 2013 •English

A story about survival, belief in the physical memory of things, as if still-life was always part of the scientific possibility or of the nightmare of extinction.

The Hellstrom Chronicle

May 1971 •English

A scientist explains how the savagery and efficiency of the insect world could result in their taking over the world.

Hatching by Cirque du Soleil

January 2013 •English

A Documentary on the Creation of OVO, by Cirque du Soleil

Insect World

May 2017 •English

We all have hobbies regarding the world of insects, they are very annoying with their buzzing, their pecking and even their horrifying appearance, but without these invertebrates man would have problems.

Das Alien Insekt

October 2001 •German

Perturbation

April 2020 •French

The World's Biggest and Baddest Bugs

April 2009 •English

The World's Biggest and Baddest Bugs, follows host Ruud Kleinpaste, as he embarks on an entomological odyssey around the globe in search of the ultimate biggest and "baddest" creepy crawlies. The World's Biggest and Baddest Bugs will then profile the "stars" of the show, with Ruud explaining in his audience-friendly style exactly what makes them so amazing.

Vosička Aphelinus Mali

January 1954 •Czech

Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo

March 2009 •Japanese

Untangling the web of cultural and historical ties underlying Japan's deep fascination with insects.

Edwardian Insects on Film

March 2013 •English

In 1908, amateur naturalist and pioneering filmmaker Percy Smith stunned early cinema goers with his footage of the juggling fly. Hailed as the father of Natural History film, Smith was a hugely influential visual pioneer, inventing many techniques that are still used today. Being both a genius and an eccentric, we follow his life from his earliest films, to the collapse of his house from his mould experiment to his ultimate suicide. We also meet Natural History icon Sir David Attenborough, who was so amazed by Smith’s films in the 1930s that they inspired him to get into natural history.

Story of the Silk Moth

January 1908 •English

I Want to Stay an Ant

July 2015 •Japanese

Satoshi Kuribayashi and his team filmed the insects for over an astonishing 430 days, resulting in breathtaking images and scenes from a still fairly unknown world. Watch a mantis sneak up on its prey and catch it with its razor sharp claws. Experience a deadly, thrilling wasp fight. Sit back and watch the world of the insects unfold before you like you have never experienced it before.

Groenkijkers

December 2023 •Dutch

Attenborough and the Empire of the Ants

December 2017 •English

Sir David Attenborough is in the Swiss Jura Mountains to discover the secrets of a giant. Beneath his feet lies a vast network of tunnels and chambers, home to a huge empire of ants. It is believed to be one of the largest animal societies in the world, where over a billion ants from rival colonies live in peace.

City of Wax

February 1934 •English

City of Wax is a 1934 American short documentary film produced by Horace and Stacy Woodard about the life of a bee. It won the Oscar at the 7th Academy Awards in 1935 for Best Short Subject (Novelty). Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with the UCLA Film and Television Archive in 2007.

Das große Insektensterben

November 2018 •German

Learning To See

March 2016 •English

Struggling with a mid-life crisis, Robert Oelman leaves his psychology career in the early 1990s to photograph rare and exotic insects. After moving from the United States to Colombia, he forms a special bond with his subjects in the Amazon rainforest. This connection enables him to make striking photographic images of new and undocumented species. After more than 20 years of traveling, searching, and photographing, his quest culminates with a New York City gallery show where he finally shares his images with the public.

Microscopic Mysteries

October 1932 •English

This short film takes a look through a microscope's lens at insect life.

The Acrobatic Fly

February 1910 •English

Propped upon the tail-end of a match, a housefly performs astonishing feats, alternately juggling a series of objects - a blade of grass, a cork, a miniature dumbbell… Most extraordinary of all is the sequence in which the fly spins a ball twice its own size, while a second fly perches on top. In the final sequence, the fly repeats some of its earlier tricks while apparently seated on a tiny chair.