A Body Called Life

Docu-fiction | 15 min | 2024

A self-isolated young human known as "James" delves into the hidden world of microscopic organisms, forging a tender connection with these nearly invisible creatures and developing a massive online following, as he seeks to understand his own place in the cosmos and accept the scars of his past.

A film made in collaboration with James, with a screenplay adapted from the verbatim Instagram posts of James, starring James as James.

Premiered online via NOWNESS

Awards/Mentions:

Qualified for the 2025 Academy Awards
Raindance Film Festival2024, Best Documentary Short
Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2024, Honorable Mention
Santa Fe International Film Festival 2024, Special Jury Prize: Best Short Documentary
Dallas International Film Festival 2024, Grand Jury Prize
Athens International Film and Video Festival 2024, ’From the Booth’ Award
DeadCenter Film Festival 2024, 'Special Jury Prize: Best Short'
Brooklyn Film Festival 2024, Best Original Score
Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival 2024, Best International Documentary Short
Science New Wave Festival 2024, 'In Vivo Award'
All Things Environmental Film Festival 2024, Best International Short Film
Cannes Indie Shorts Awards 2024, Best Documentary Short
NYC Indie Shorts Awards 2024, Best Documentary Short
Centre Film Festival 2024, Best Cinematography
Doc.Berlin 2024, Best Poetic Documentary Film

Additional Festivals:

Camden International Film Festival 2024
Palm Springs International Shortfest 2024
Galway Film Fleadh 2024
Leeds International Film Festival 2024
EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2024
Hamptons International Film Festival 2024
Florida Film Festival 2024
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival 2024
Nashville Film Festival 2024
BendFilm 2024
Sidewalk Film Festival 2024
St Louis International Film Festival 2024
Interfilm Berlin 2024
KUKI Berlin 2024
Edmonton International Film Festival 2024
Walla Walla 2024
Hollywood Climate Summit 2024
NewFilmmakers Los Angeles 2024
Dublin International Film Festival 2025
Sedona International Film Festival 2025

Cast/Crew:

Starring: James Weiss as James Weiss
Director/Editor: Spencer MacDonald
Creative Producer: Pascal Duschletta
Production Companies: Avocados and Coconuts & Tasty Pictures
EP: Dalia Burde & Lea Fee
CD: Amani King
DP: Fabian Kimoto
Original Music: Dan Deacon
Audio: UKO the Audio Suite
Color: Didrik Bråthen @TMLS
Intro VFX: Buralqy
Closing VFX: Ennio Ruschetti @ Das Alte Lager
Service Production Poland: Papaya Films
Producer: Karolina Kordecka
Production Manager: Katarzyna Kordecka
1st AD: Katarzyna Iskra
Production Designer: Anna Knittel Cahlo
Gaffer: Michal ‘Lary’ Kruk
(+ Many more talented people who gave their time for this labor of love)

Director’s Statement:

This film began a couple of years ago when my friend Eva Verbeeck and I first came across James’ Instagram. I was charmed by the creatures he was able to film through his microscope and the tender lens through which he narrated their lives. I was particularly intrigued by how he would also narrate his own life in the third person and the way he was sharing his journey with therapy. After dozens of phone calls, I came to know James as one of the most sensitive, loving humans I have ever met—a person who has been through the lowest lows and is yet still able to connect to the magic of this life.

We embarked on making a film that would be a blend of documentary and fiction, one in which all of the words that made up the script came directly from what he himself had written in his Instagram posts and stories. From there, we made a storyboard, and James was all set to be the star in a film about his life.

Two-thirds of life on this planet is invisible to the human eye, and yet we know so little about it. We wonder if there are aliens beyond Earth, but we can see them right below us through a microscope: rotifers, water bears, paramecia, ciliates. This film offers a perspective on the usually overlooked phenomena of the natural world, presented through the lens of a gentle human who is processing c-PTSD via a warm connection with these beings.

BTS: