Becoming Bird is a short film about the miraculous embryonic development of a chicken inside its egg, from fertilized egg cell to hatching. In the film, we observe the developing embryo in remarkable detail: the appearance of veins carrying streaming blood and a beating heart, the development of the brain, eyes and other organs, the embryo’s first movements, the emergence of feathers, and finally the hatching of the chick. It is an emotional journey, filmed by Jan van IJken with extraordinary precision and detail.
Eggs and chickens are consumed all over the world, yet few people have witnessed the miracle of life unfolding inside an ordinary egg. The embryonic development normally takes 21 days, but in the film this process is condensed to nine minutes through the use of time-lapse photography and filming.
Becoming Bird (2026, 4K, color, 09:23)
The film is picture locked with a temp track for the music. Sytze Pruiksma is currently composing the soundtrack for the film.