Human Nature

Name: Human Nature
Director: Adam Bolt
Released: 2019

Adam Bolt 2019

A breakthrough called CRISPR has given us unprecedented control over the basic building blocks of life. It opens the door to curing diseases, reshaping the biosphere, and designing our own children. Human Nature is a provocative exploration of CRISPR’s far-reaching implications, through the eyes of the scientists who discovered it, the families it’s affecting, and the bioengineers who are testing its limits. How will this new power change our relationship with nature? What will it mean for human evolution? To begin to answer these questions we must look back billions of years and peer into an uncertain future.

Add to Playlist

Add Bookmark

Bookmark List

Play Trailer

Running Time:

94 min.

Spoken Languages:

English

Directors:

Adam Bolt

Producers:

Meredith DeSalazar, Sarah Goodwin, Elliot Kirschner

Cinematographers:

Derek Reich

Editors:

Regina Sobel, Steve Tyler

Press

‘Human Nature’: Film Review

"A cogent, wide-ranging look at both the discovery and the nascent, soon-to-be-giant fights humans are having over it, the documentary should be welcomed in its limited theatrical release and will be even more useful on video."

John Defore
CRISPR is fueling a modern-day scientific revolution. ‘Human Nature’ documentary looks at its promise and potential perils.

"One of the film’s strengths is its lack of narrator. Instead, it relies on scientists, patients and others to tell a complex story with ease. Insightful 3-D graphics that borrow from microscopic imagery make the science understandable without dumbing it down."

Erin Blakemore
‘Human Nature’: Film Review

"If “Human Nature” feels different from other science docs, that’s largely because it seems to have one foot planted in the realm of hard science and the other pointed as far skyward as possible, engaging with the philosophical and moral implications of speculative applications for such technology."

Peter Debruge

Festival Participation

SXSW Film Festival - 2019
World Premiere
CPH:DOX - 2019
Hot Docs - 2019
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival - 2019
Seattle International Film Festival - 2019
AFI Docs - 2019
DOC NYC - 2019
AFO Film Festival - 2019
Audience Award
Vancouver International Film Festival - 2019
Bergen International Film Festival - 2019

Additional Materials

Distribution Company

Back to Film Summary

This Week’s Featured Films

In this poignant and deeply intimate documentary 3 kids temporarily removed from their parents find friendship and flickers of hope inside the worn walls of a remarkable orphanage in Eastern Ukraine, as a group of dedicated social-workers create moments of joy and respite
The Right to Read shares the stories of an activist, a teacher, and two American families who fight to provide our youngest generation with the most foundational indicator of life-long success: the ability to read.
Yaara Bou Melhem’s documentary "Unseen Skies" explores state and corporate surveillance evolution through Trevor Paglen's audacious launch of artwork in space.
Oliver Stone's documentary explores the potential of nuclear energy as a solution to climate change and energy poverty.
I’m Doing My Job follows 6 young, female South Asian & Black emergency medical physicians’ lives throughout the pandemic in NYC.
Two Milwaukee high schools situated a mile apart, one mostly Black and the other white, unite under the leadership of a unique coach to ultimately learn what it truly means to come together as a team
If birth and pregnancy are a lens on how society values its women, why has it become a fight that American women are losing?
As the nation faces the end of Roe v. Wade, follow three women leading formidable anti-abortion organizations to witness the enormous influence they wield at the intersection and future of abortion and politics in America.
A one-hour documentary that delves into the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the birth of a new movement to treat and prevent toxic stress
More than half of the 80 million Millennials in America are politically Independent. Every single one of them will be needed if the planet is to avoid climate catastrophe
A harrowing look into the systemic discrimination against women in the fields of science
The first definitive, comprehensive documentary film on ADHD
A ground-breaking examination of the history of African Americans on the road from the early 1900’s through the 1960’s and beyond - a crucial window on issues of class, automobile culture, discrimination and national identity
Amin had an extraordinary child refugee journey from Afghanistan. He is facing a painful secret he kept hidden for 20 years, threatening to derail his life and his soon-to-be husband