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The short documentary Blaulicht (Blue Light) follows two paramedic teams in Switzerland, one in the country’s mountainous centre, the other in the city of Zurich. With a fly-on-the-wall style, the Swiss filmmakers Roman Hodel and Lena Mäder capture the first responders’ work as they aid those in need, in situations that range from a traffic accident to an at-home fatality. As the teams focus their attention on their patients, Hodel and Mäder focus their cameras solely on the paramedics. In doing so, the directors capture their emotions as they provide everything from wellness checks to life-saving care with a mix of expertise, compassion and composure – and attempt to find respite in the quiet moments in between.
Directors: Lena Mäder, Roman Hodel
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Consciousness and altered states
‘I want me back’ – after a head injury, Nick struggles with his altered reality
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Meaning and the good life
Why Orwell urged his readers to celebrate the spring, cynics be damned
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Making
On the Norwegian coast, a tree is transformed into a boat the old-fashioned way
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Animals and humans
One man’s quest to save an orphaned squirrel, as narrated by David Attenborough
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Computing and artificial intelligence
A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away
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History
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
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Wellbeing
Children of the Rwandan genocide face a unique stigma 30 years later
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Earth science and climate
Images carved into film form a haunting elegy for a disappearing slice of Earth
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Biology
Butterflies become unrecognisable landscapes when viewed under electron microscopes
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