NIGHTFLOWER

artificial light and the importance of darkness

Nightflower is A feature documentary following the scientists, artists, and communities working to understand and protect what is disappearing above us.
We’ve developed relationships and gained access to people whose stories, together, illustrate the scale and nuance of this issue.

THE DARK SKY DEFENDERS

Nightflower’s Contributors

DR. SISCO AUALA

Sisco’s work sits at the intersection of astronomy and Indigenous knowledge preservation. Collaborating with the Ju/’hoansi Traditional Authority in the Kalahari Desert, she is helping document and preserve millennia of San astronomical knowledge: star lore, navigation, and cosmology developed under some of the darkest, most unobstructed skies left on Earth.

BABAK TAFRESHI

Babak has spent over two decades photographing the night sky from more than 100 countries, working to make the loss of darkness visible to people who may never think to look up. Founder of The World at Night, a global astrophotography project, he has become one of the most prominent voices connecting dark sky protection to both science and culture. In Nightflower, Babak’s fieldwork threads through the film, from documenting the shrinking window of true darkness to advocating, image by image, for why it’s worth saving.

GEORGIA MACMILLAN

Georgia works where science meets community. Based in County Mayo, Ireland, home to one of the world’s International Dark Sky Parks, her research examines how dark sky tourism and local engagement can turn light pollution from an abstract problem into something communities actively choose to solve. She has coordinated citizen-science surveys mapping light pollution sources across Irish counties and helped bring the international Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) Conference to Mayo.

DR. EVA KNOP

Eva studies one of light pollution’s quietest casualties: nocturnal pollinators. Working in the dry calcareous grasslands and alpine meadows of Switzerland, her research tracks how artificial light disrupts the moths and other night-flying insects responsible for pollinating a huge share of wild plants, and the direct consequences felt by the local ecosystems.

LOCATIONS

THE SWISS ALPS

We follow Eva and her team into the alpine meadows of Switzerland to witness pollination science after dark, where much of the story of biodiversity loss is unfolding largely unseen.
the kalahari desert

We travel to Tsumkwe, Namibia, to film with Sisco and Ju/’hoansi community members, and follow their efforts to preserve their Indigenous astronomical knowledge as encroaching light threatens the skies that they commune with.
Coastal Taiwan & Thailand

We join Babak as he investigates the light fishing practices of Taiwan and Thailand. A Basai tradition in Taiwan once ruled by fire, has now turned to LEDs. This practice of using artifical light to fish across Southeast Asia has been found to distrupt plankton migration en masse, while also being a somewhat sustainable method of harvesting fish.
Contae Mhaigh Eo

This thread follows Georgia’s work as a case study in what protecting darkness can look like at a community level. We met the people of Newport, Co. Mayo, where a newly redesigned lighting plan has cut nighttime light by as much as 75%.
Valparaíso, Chile

For one weekend, dark sky advocates from all walks of life come together in late-July of 2027 at the 10th Artificial Light At Night Conference where some of our contributors have plans to attend.
On the road with babak

We follow Babak Tefreshi as he works on his Life At Night Atlas and investigates how light pollution is affecting bird migration, nocturnal mammal behavior, and many other facets of life.

CAMERA TEST WITH BABAK TAFRESHI

THE VISUAL LANGUAGE OF NIGHTFLOWER

Light:

Plays with darkness as much as it does light - almost as if it is a character of its own.

embracing moments of shadow, low-light, softness, warmth in scenes of connection and optimism, then employing stark, cold, high-key lighting in scenes where the threat of the artificial takes hold. Harnesses blue-hour to not only illustrate transitions from day to night, but to convey the feeling that things are changing.

Tone:

intimate, honest, present

Strategically uses Wide-angle portraiture, inviting you into their world. Close, like a friend.

Motion:

handheld, follows subjects into their spaces, explores a scene’s enviroment with curiosity

The energy of the camera movements feels alive and engaged, and leans in to listen to people in the scene. The frame holds a subject’s presence with interest and tenderness.

INTERVIEWS:

welcomes softened natural lighting, framed in the environments our subjects are actually living in

we will use sit downs intentionally to serve the story, not to fill space. some interviews will be carefully composed, others will be on the fly.

Visual inspiration

Our Frames of Reference

OUR TEAM

ROSIE FEERICK

DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Most Recently: Producer, Florentine Films, The American Revolution

Bio
Peter Ackerman

DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Most Recently: Field Producer, PBS Nature, American Amazon

Bio
Aaron Hwang

PRODUCER
Creative Director & Post-Lead at 4th District

Bio
CLAIR POPKIN

INTERVIEW CINEMATOGRAPHER
Recent Releases: Free Solo, American Symphony, Everest: The Other Side

Selected Works
Jacob Chang-Rascle

CINEMATOGRAPHER
Head of Production at 4th District

Bio
Joshua Pei

ADDITIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHER
Executive Producer & Director at 4th District

Bio
HUNTER NOLAN

ADDITIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY
Recent Releases: The Plastic Detox, Unearth, Before the Flood

Selected Works
Russ Laman

WILDLIFE CINEMATOGRAPHER
Recent Releases: Seven Worlds One Planet, The Mating Game

Bio
Eric Wang

DRONE SPECIALIST
Flies both Ember & RED Komodo FPV, Inspire 3, S8MM FPV

Bio