Jan van IJken

Tag: art and science

  • Becoming Bird

    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, 09:20)

    Filmed, directed and produced by Jan van IJken
    Edited by Jan van IJken and Metje Postma
    Music by Sytze Pruiksma
    Audio Mix by Harry Zwerver
    With the generous support of HatchTech Group and Hatchery Beunder

    World Premiere:
    Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, CZ, Short Joy competition 23 October – 1 November
    https://dafilms.com/program/1867-short-joy-2026

    Screening date:
    28th October 2026, 13:30, DKO II Cinema, Jihlava

    Dutch Premiere:
    IDFA Amsterdam, NL, section Signed, 12-22 November 2026
    https://festival.idfa.nl/film/f85a13b2-fe50-4c1f-abfd-caa1980bf17b/becoming-bird/

    Screening dates to be announced

  • Jan van IJken is a filmmaker and photographer from the Netherlands, working at the interface of art and science.

    His work is about the secrets of nature, microscopy, embryology and human-animal relationships.

  • Becoming

    SYNOPSIS

    Becoming is short film by Jan van IJken about the embryology of a salamander. In this film we witness the ‘making of’ a salamander in its transparent egg from fertilization to hatching, filmed in great microscopic detail.

    The first stages of embryonic development are roughly the same for all animals, including humans. In the film, we can observe a universal process which normally is invisible: the miraculous genesis of animal life. A single cell is transformed into a complete, complex living organism with a beating heart and running bloodstream.

    The salamander embryo (an Ichthyosaura Alpestris) was followed very closely in a combination of timelapse and film. All stages of embryogenesis can be seen in this film: cleavage, gastrulation, neurulation and organogenesis. Time was condensed from about 3 weeks to 6 minutes.

    2018, HD video, color, 06:15

    SCREENINGS AND AWARDS

    Becoming has been screened at more than 25 international film festivals and received the Award for best short documentary at the Innsbruck nature film festival 2018, the Visual Science Award at Imagine Science Abu Dhabi 2019 and a honorary mention at Academia Film, Olomouc, CZ. The film was awarded Vimeo Staff Pick of the Month and was nominated for Vimeo Best of 2019 (top 10 experimental films).

    In 2019 the film went ‘viral’ on internet and has been watched by millions of people. It was published on the website of National Geographic (13 million views and counting), Aeon, Colossal, Live Science, IFLScience and numerous others. The Dutch TV show De Wereld Draait Door screened the film, including an interview.

    FULL LIST OF SCREENINGS AND AWARDS BECOMING

    Acknowledgements; Many thanks to:
    Alex Kenter salamander breeder with endless patience in providing eggs.
    Ben Geutskens for sharing his knowledge about the biology and life cycles of salamanders: http://www.semperinmotus.nl/
    My friends at the Dutch microscopy club NGVM: http://www.ngvm.nl 
    Huibert Boon for the audimix and foley http://www.boonbooy.nl/