Panta Rhei (1952)

Directed by

Bert Haanstra

Genre

documentary

Country

Netherlands

Runtime

10 min

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 9 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This Dutch short documentary shows the movement of nature through footage of water, clouds and plants. It uses time-lapse photography and rhythmic editing to convey constant change.

observationalmeditativeflowingcalmrhythmicserenenaturalabstract

What happens

Panta Rhei is a Dutch short documentary film by Bert Haanstra, first shown in 1952. It portrays the motions of nature, edited rhythmically with alternating footage of water, clouds and vegetation, sometimes using time-lapse photography. It was Haanstra's fourth film as director and like many of his early films it does not feature any humans. The title is a Greek phrase (ta panta rhei) associated with the philosopher Heraclitus and the concept that everything is in a constant state of becoming something else. The film competed at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. Critics have highlighted its rhythmicality and vision of nature. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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