Golden Genes

Since 2000, the year when the first draft of the human genome was announced, the genome sequencing of organisms is going through a boom. Scientists from all over the world were able to "open the book of life", to read and alter the information in it. This is going to impact all the areas of life. In this Austrian documentary, we visit one of the oldest archives in the world, as well as ultramodern biobanks where the frozen genes of millions of plants, animals and humans are enshrined. Here, elephant's cells and miniature bacteria occupy the same space. The creators themselves have identified their documentary as being partially nature oriented and partially political, because research on biodiversity invokes not only human society, but also human nature itself. Would it be possible to bring extinct species back to life, or to enhance our own gene pool? In the modern genome era we need to ask these and other pressing questions even more frequently than ever before. (Academia Film Olomouc)