In the Periodic Table of Elements, the lanthanides are the rare earth elements, those with atomic numbers ranging from 57 (lanthanum) to 71 (lutetium). While these 15 elements might not be commonly discussed outside of the classroom, or seem as necessary as oxygen or iron, they are nonetheless essential to modern life. Almost every electronic device in use today—anything with a screen, battery, or microphone—requires lanthanides. In this film, shifting images, sounds, and texts reveal a world reflected and projected inside our own partial and changing comprehension of that world, a complex world of organic split screens, superimpositions, and unreliable horizons. Whether glimpsing inside a mirror factory or contemplating a 16th-century “black mirror” of obsidian, this film presents images that are considerably more complicated than a snapshot understood with a quick glance. This is a science documentary with curiosity and soul, one willing to examine the mystery of life at its most elemental level.  TW