Experiencing Interruptions?

Biocentrics

How would you reinvent a part of your world using nature as a model?

In BIOCENTRICS, this and other provocations are answered by the look of Janine Benyus. By connecting people who put life at the center of their choices, the biologist proposes technological and social innovations inspired by the experience of billions of years of the Planet Earth.

  • Fernanda Heinz Figueiredo
    Director
    "Seeds From Our Garden", "New Ideas for the Future of the Amazon", "Choreography - drawing the dance in Brazil", "Brazilian Architects", "Play Territory"
  • Ataliba Benaim
    Director
    "Health, Inc.", "Violence, Inc", "Choreography - drawing the dance in Brazil", "Active Art - the state of the art in the streets"
  • Ataliba Benaim
    Writer
    "Tito and the Birds", "The Eye and the Knife", "Decapitation Games", "What is Worth?"
  • Jorge Saad Jafet
    Writer
    "Violence, Inc", "God and the Devil Above the Wall"
  • Jorge Saad Jafet
    Producer
    "Seeds from Our Garden", "Brazilian Architects", "Choreography", "Brazilian Graphic Design", "Active Art"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Biocêntricos
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Genres:
    Nature, Science, Culture
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 48 minutes 29 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 5, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    262,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Brazil
  • Country of Filming:
    Brazil, Costa Rica, Japan, United States
  • Language:
    English, Japanese, Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • São Paulo International Film Festival SPIFF
    São Paulo
    Brazil
    October 23, 2022
    Brazilian Premiere
    New Directors Competition, Mostra Brasil
  • Atlantidoc
    Uruguay
    Uruguay
    October 5, 2022
  • One Earth Film Festival - Mini Earth Week Film Festival
    Chicago
    United States
    April 22, 2023
    North America Premiere
    Official Selection
  • International Wildlife Film Festival
    Missoula
    United States
    April 22, 2023
    North America Premiere
    Best Feature Award and Public Award
Distribution Information
  • Globo Filmes
    Distributor
    Country: Brazil
    Rights: Paid TV
  • Canal Curta!
    Distributor
    Country: Brazil
    Rights: Paid TV
  • Aiuê Produtora
    Distributor
    Country: Brazil
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Fernanda Heinz Figueiredo, Ataliba Benaim

Fernanda Heinz Figueiredo: Director of content at Aiuê. As a freelance documentarist, her interests are education, sustainability and culture. Directed “Seeds from Our Garden”, “New Ideas for the Future of Amazon”, the series for children “Território do Brincar” and 2 seasons of “Coreography, the design of the dance” to Arte 1. Awards: Best Doc for the public 36th Mostra SP / Best Doc for the public - Festival of Film D’Education 2014, France / Prix Jeneusse Comkids 2016.

Ataliba Benaim: Documentarist interested in individual transformation processes, has written and directed several projects including the short fiction “O Hotel do Saulo" (2010) and documentary series "Active Art" and “Choreography", and has also written de feature length “Quanto Vale ou É Por Quilo?”, of director Sergio Bianchi, as well as the TV series “9mm" (FOX, 2009).

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Director Statement

Fernanda Heinz Figueiredo studied environmental education and plays a double role in the film’s production company, as guardian of its vision and production coordinator, focusing on having a positive impact on everything she produces. She believes humanity has forgotten that the simple act of looking at nature's beauty brings tranquility, good health, helps cure illness, and increases our creativity.

The act of observing the complexity of life, the exchanges and interactions between plants, animals, insects and microorganisms, brings immense fascination to anyone that takes the time to do so.

“Forgetting this has an impact on people's daily actions and choices. We have decided, in a short span of time but on a historical scale, to ignore this knowledge, this experience, and nature's genius. We have chosen to indefinitely explore the resources that (we think) are simply available, but this is not the case.

Thankfully, others have been intelligent enough to choose a different path, where nature is the master.
There is nothing new in this. Indigenous peoples have always done this. Leonardo da Vinci did this. The Japanese engineer and birdwatcher Eiji Nakatsu does this. Fred Gelli, an important Brazilian designer, also does this. And the American biologist Janine Benyus, considered the mother of Biomimetics, spreads this vision around the world.”

The film presents some of these men and women of today, who have chosen to observe, be enchanted by, learn and mimic nature's strategies and patterns to solve important questions related to life's survival and continuity.

Ataliba Benaim has always been peeved by the term "ecology" and developed a pessimistic view of the relationship of man vs. nature. Man had strayed a long time ago, and the victory of anthropocentric view seemed irreversible.

He imagined that, in order to restore the balance of Life, our planet had to be invaded by predators from outer space, like in the famous case of Yellowstone Park, where its ecosystem was rebalanced by the introduction of wolves.

His neurosis started to dissipate after the first contact he had with Biomimetics, and was radically transformed when he listened to the first interviews with those who are passionate about this scientific field. Something profound transcended his prejudices and made him believe in a new posture by mankind in relation to nature.

He sees humanity like a child sucking the planet's resources, the same way a baby looks at the mother's breast as an infinite source. And he believes Biomimetics offers the hope that this child can mature and face nature not as a generous Mother, but as a Master that can teach new ways of living.