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Scottish Premiere. What if light were the pulse of our planet? In Tracing Light, filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheimer (Rivers and Tides, Touch the Sound) leads us from the windswept Outer Hebrides to Germany’s Max Planck research labs.

Collaborating with artists Semiconductor, Julie Brook, Brunner/Ritz, and physicists probing single-photon pulses, he stages experiments that echo nature’s own light cycles: the dawn glow on tidal sands, the sparkle of bioluminescent plankton, the green flash of photosynthesis. Laser bursts and marble reflections become metaphors for climate rhythms and ecosystem balance. Each frame asks: how does light shape life, time, and seasonal change?

With painterly cinematography and an immersive soundscape, Tracing Light fuses art and science to illuminate our world’s delicate reliance on light, and urges us to safeguard the harmony it sustains.

🎤 Followed by live Q&A with producer Sonja Henrici and executive producer Leslie Hills.

💬 Post-film Q&A will be live captioned (CART). Learn more about access at the festival →

Director: Thomas Riedelsheimer | Country: Germany/UK | Year: 2024 | Running Time: 99 min | Language: English and German with English subtitles | Rating: PG

About the filmmaker:

Thomas Riedelsheimer is an award-winning German filmmaker, cinematographer, and editor known for poetic, visually rich documentaries. His acclaimed films Rivers and Tides, Leaning into the Wind (both on land artist Andy Goldsworthy), and Touch the Sound (on musician Evelyn Glennie) have screened worldwide. A three-time German Film Award (Lola) winner, he co-founded Filmpunkt GmbH, and in 2018 launched the dok.art programme to support debut documentaries, which has since become an integral part of the renowned Drehbuchwerkstatt München. He has lectured at Filmakademie Ludwigsburg since 2006 and has taught internationally, including at Emily Carr Art School in Vancouver.

About the speakers:

Sonja Henrici is a writer/producer with over two decades in film and TV. As founder of Sonja Henrici Creates, she collaborates with global storytellers to develop transformative documentaries. Formerly Co-Director/Executive Producer at Scottish Documentary Institute (2013-2020), she built its international profile, led its transition to charitable status, and launched the 50:50+ Women Direct Campaign. Her producer credits include acclaimed films Merkel (Telluride/Netflix), The Oil Machine (IDFA/CPH Dox), Tracing Light (DokLeipzig Opening Film), and award-winning features Future My Love, I Am Breathing, Donkeyote, Becoming Animal, and Time Trial. She is a member of AMPAS and BAFTA.

Leslie Hills is an award-winning film producer whose career spans drama, current affairs, arts and politics. She now focuses on internationally financed documentaries produced with German partners and filmed across five continents. A former journalist and script consultant, she has led seminars and training programmes worldwide, from Toronto to St. Petersburg. Leslie's writing includes theatre and contemporary classical music reviews, programme notes for the Edinburgh International Film Festival, press dispatches and diaries from 1990s Berlin, and published fiction and essays. Her debut book, 10 Scotland Street, an opinionated history of one Edinburgh house over two centuries, was published in 2023.

With Short Film:

Animal Eye

Scottish premiere. Shattering the boundaries between science and wonder, this spectacular documentary blends scientific images with ultraviolet capture, infrared imaging, and 16mm texture to bring to life the world as seen through animal eyes. A kaleidoscopic encounter that challenges what we know about vision, consciousness, and connection.

💬 This film is subtitled. Learn more about access at the festival →

Director: Carlo Nasisse | Country: USA/Costa Rica | Year: 2025 | Running Time: 13 min | Language: English, Spanish with English subtitles | Rating: 12A

About the filmmaker:

Carlo Nasisse is a director and cinematographer whose work explores ecology and the intersections of humans, landscapes, and politics. His films have screened at major festivals including SXSW, True/False, Camden, Oberhausen, SFFILM, and Slamdance, and have been supported and exhibited by The New Yorker, POV Shorts, PBS, and Vimeo Staff Picks, the Times Art Center in Berlin, and the Rockbund Museum of Art in Shanghai, He has received grants from the Austin Film Society, Jigsaw Productions, FOCINE, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Carlo holds an MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University.

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