Light Eaters is ECA's first short film made possible through the generous support of Blue World's Valerie Taylor Ocean Prize for Ocean Literacy and a creative collaboration with the Australian National Maritime Museum (Sea Museum), Sydney.

Together, these partnerships enables us to bring science and storytelling to life, connecting students, educators, and communities with the hidden world of microalgae and their vital role in our waterways and climate.

The film was premiered at the 2025 Blue World Valerie Taylor Ocean Prize night and has since been screened at the Sydney Sea Museum and featured at the 2025 University of Technology Sydney Green Light Algae Pitch Night. 

It is currently showing across local venues in the Northern Rivers and we welcome screening opportunities with aligned organisations. Please get in touch with us here for enquiries.

Hydra: The freshwater 'Jellyfish' that runs on microalgae.

Hydra are tiny freshwater creatures and close relatives of jellyfish and sea anemones, sharing the same phylum, Cnidaria. They first evolved over 200 million years ago and have remained remarkably simple yet resilient ever since. Some hydra species contain green microalgae living inside their cells in a symbiotic relationship - these algae perform photosynthesis, supplying nutrients to the hydra while benefiting from protection and access to essential compounds. This partnership gives hydra their green colour and helps them thrive in nutrient-poor environments. Hydra can reproduce asexually through a process called budding, where new individuals grow directly from the parent and eventually detach (see 59 sec). Under ideal conditions, hydra can live indefinitely, making them a fascinating example of biological resilience. 

Samples were from waterways in the Byron Bay Hinterland NSW.

Song credit: Orca Matriarch by Joseph Beg

Micrasterias microalgae: Hidden treasure revealed under polarised light.

Seen under polarised light, Micrasterias is a green microalgae found in freshwater across the globe. It’s just one cell, but split into two mirror-image halves, each with its own chloroplast doing the photosynthesis hustle. Right in the middle is the isthmus, where the DNA hangs out and cell division kicks off. Micrasterias shares deep genetic ties with land plants, offering clues to how cellular division and complexity evolved.

Samples were from waterways in the Byron Bay Hinterland NSW.

Song credit: Dunes by Valante.

Volvox: Nature's first experiment in teamwork.

Volvox are spherical colonies of green algae found in freshwater, composed of thousands of individual cells working in coordination. They represent one of the earliest known examples of cellular differentiation and cooperation. The outer somatic cells each have flagella that beat in unison, propelling the colony through water toward light for photosynthesis. Inside the sphere, larger reproductive cells develop and are eventually released as daughter colonies. This division of labour between movement and reproduction marks a crucial step in the evolution of complex multicellular life.

Samples were from waterways in the Byron Bay Hinterland NSW.

Song credit: Astral Cure by Rand Aldo

Diatoms: Life Inside a Glass House

Diatoms are a diverse group of microalgae found wherever light meets water. Despite their size, they play a huge role in aquatic food web formation and regulating Earth’s climate, contributing up to 30% of global photosynthesis, matching all the world’s rainforests combined. They build intricate glass shells called frustules (see 1:52), crafted from silica once contained in rocks. These structures help to protect them from predators and act as a ballast to move them through water, though how they move remains a mystery. Diatoms form massive blooms that can be seen from space and when they die their shells sink and form the sediments mined as diatomaceous earth. Inside the silica frustule, round oil droplets serve as energy reserves, making diatoms a focus of biotech research into renewable biofuels. Overlooked but essential, diatoms quietly power life on Earth.

Samples were from waterways in the Byron Bay Hinterland NSW.

Song credit: Komorebi by Shuta Yasukochi

Microalgae's mesmerising mystery: Desmid crystals.

Desmids are single-celled freshwater microalgae, characteristically split into two mirror-image halves, joined by a central isthmus that houses the nucleus and DNA. Here, polarised light reveals the flickering barium sulphate crystals within their cell vacuoles, displaying a phenomenon called Birefringence. The rapid dancing motion of these crystals is caused by Brownian motion - the random jostling of particles as they’re bombarded by water molecules. It’s a quiet chaos of physics at play in the microscopic world, yet the exact function of these crystals remains a mystery. Some speculate they’re metabolic byproducts or involved in ion regulation, but no definitive role has been confirmed. It’s a humbling thought that something so striking and attention-grabbing still escapes explanation - to me it is a subtle reminder that humans don’t always have the answers and sometimes all we can do is admire the mystery.

Samples were from waterways in the Byron Bay Hinterland NSW.

Song credit: Schumann 432-1 Root Chakra Breathing by 369