Genesis

The documentary tells the story of the earth and of life like a tale. The narrator is an African storyteller; sitting by a fire, he passes on the birth of the universe, matter coming together, the first cell and the multiplying of species. The images run from the microscopic scale to the daily lives of animals, and all of it was filmed directly rather than animated. The film was directed by Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou together; the two of them also made Microcosmos in 1996. Sotigui Kouyaté narrates. The approach is not a scientific lesson but the tradition of oral storytelling: evolution is given not as an argument but as a story being told. So the film proposes a way of looking more than it delivers information. The music is by Bruno Coulais. Seventy-seven minutes, and most of the footage is the product of shooting that ran for years.