SYMBIOTIC EARTH explores the life and ideas of Lynn Margulis, a brilliant and radical scientist, whose unconventional theories challenged the male-dominated scientific community and are today fundamentally changing how we look at our selves, evolution, and the environment.

As a young scientist in the 1960s, Margulis was ridiculed when she first proposed that symbiosis was a key driver of evolution, but she persisted. Instead of the mechanistic view that life evolved through random genetic mutations and competition, she presented a symbiotic narrative in which bacteria joined together to create the complex cells that formed animals, plants and all other organisms - which together form a multi-dimensional living entity that covers the Earth. Humans are not the pinnacle of life with the right to exploit nature, but part of this complex cognitive system in which each of our actions has repercussions.

Filmmaker John Feldman traveled globally to meet Margulis' cutting-edge colleagues and continually asked: What happens when the truth changes? SYMBIOTIC EARTH examines the worldview that has led to climate change and extreme capitalism and offers a new approach to understanding life that encourages a sustainable and symbiotic lifestyle.

147 minutes
Language Subtitle Options:
English (SDH Captions for the deaf and hard-of-hearing), Spanish

Directed by John Feldman
Produced by Susan Davies
Script, Camera, Editor: John Feldman
Associate Producers: James MacAllister, Regge Life, Global Film Network
Graphic Design: Guido Alvarez
Asst Editors: Alex Marlow, Noah Shearer
Editorial Consultant: Ann Tegnell
Composer: Sheila Silver
Narrator: John Feldman
A Hummingbird Films Production

Brought to you by

Bullfrog Communities provides a simple way for concerned citizens to stay informed about pressing issues:  water, economic justice, food, energy & climate change, immigration, and environment.  Join the ongoing discussion about issues that concern us all.  Educate and energize your local community using the unique power of film.

Bullfrog Films is the leading U.S. publisher of independently-produced films about environmental and related social-justice issues — films that point the way to living healthily, happily, and with greater concern for the other inhabitants of this planet, and for our descendants.

See more from Bullfrog Communities