DNA Dreams
Bregtje van der Haak
Ten years ago, it would have taken many years and over a billion dollars to map out the complete DNA of a single human being. Today, it can be done in one day for a mere 1,000 dollars. This technological revolution has fast-tracked genetic science, which is enthusiastically embraced by China. The country invests hundreds of millions in the latest super computers and DNA scanners as it strives to become a leader in genetics and biotechnology. On the edge of Shenzhen we find BGI, now the world’s largest genomics research institution. Here, 4,000 young scientists work day and night identifying plant, human and animal DNA.
DNA Dreams follows 18-year-old Zhao Bowen, high school drop-out and leader of BGI’s Cognitive Genomics Laboratory to analyse the DNA of 2,000 highly gifted children. His goal: to find the genetic basis of intelligence. At BGI’s cloning lab, Zhao’s 25-year-old colleague Lin Lin directs a team of 35 cloning professionals, which produces pigs of all shapes and sizes. Some have even been genetically modified to give o a fluorescent glow in the dark. Deeply in love with her work, Lin Lin feels »like a mother« to the piglets that are conceived under her microscope.
Bregtje van der Haak’s award-winning documentary shows traces of a future that is already here and takes a closer look at data-driven science.
Bregtje van der Haak
Bregtje van der Haak ist Dokumentarfilmerin und Journalistin. Seit 1997 dreht sie weltweit Dokumentationen über den gesellschaftlichen Wandel und zur Globalisierung. Ihre Filme werden international im Fernsehen, auf Festivals und in Kunstausstellungen gezeigt. Für VPRO Television entwickelte sie unter anderem Gemeinschaftsprojekte wie Metropolis TV (2008), Urban Century (2009), Aftermath Project (2011) oder Atlas of Pentecostalism (2013). Bregtje van der Haak studierte Tanz in Paris, Politikwissenschaften und Jura an der Universität Amsterdam und der New School for Social Research in New York. Sie hat außerdem einen Masterabschluss der Graduate School of Journalism der Columbia Universität in New York. In den Niederlanden ist sie Mitglied der Prins Claus Stiftung und der Stiftung Praemium Erasmianum. Für die School of Creative Media der Universität Hongkong entwickelte sie als Gastprofes- sorin das Curriculum Future Creative Media.
Filme von Bregtje van der Haak (Auswahl)
Aftermath of a Crisis 2011 | California Dreaming 2010 | The President and the Architects 2009 | Grand Paris 2009 | Satelite Queens 2007 | Saudi Solutions 2005 | Lagos Wide & Close 2005
