Hunt for the Oldest DNA tells the story of a maverick gene hunter, whose single-minded pursuit of an improbable scientific vision would tease and torment him before ending with a stunning triumph: a lost world recovered from a spoonful of dirt.

Two decades ago, Eske Willerslev had a radical idea: Could DNA, the fragile chemical code of life, survive intact in frozen sediment for millennia? Fellow scientists called him crazy. But the Danish biologist set out to prove everybody wrong, and his perseverance paid off with a landmark breakthrough–with massive implications for how we understand the deep past.

After many years of failure, Willerslev recovered the genetic traces of a lush forest ecosystem from before the Ice Age, more than two million years ago. The species identified from their DNA lived during the last hot epoch on Earth. Signaling a new era in DNA research, scientists can now use DNA to travel back millions of years and piece together vanished ecosystems. Today, they are poised to harvest the genetic secrets of these ancient worlds to help us adapt to our own climate future.

ESKE WILLERSLEV

Renowned Danish evolutionary biologist Eske Willerslev led the effort to sequence the first ancient human genome, pioneered the field of ancient environmental DNA, and has repeatedly broken the record for the oldest sequenced DNA. He spearheaded the recovery of genetic material from a revelatory forest ecosystem in northern Greenland that was at least two million years old – a discovery cited as one of Science magazine’s “Breakthroughs of the Year” in 2022 and featured on the cover of Nature that December. He has made major contributions to our understanding of early human migrations, including the peopling of the Americas, the genetic origins of modern Europeans, the domestication of the horse, the earliest settlement of Australia, and the Polynesian expansions in the South Pacific.

BETH SHAPIRO

A leading expert in the field of ancient DNA, Beth Shapiro specializes in the genetics of Ice Age animals and plants. As Professor of Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz, Shapiro is at the forefront of recovering ancient DNA from fossil remains and the environment to study evolution and the impact of human activities on this process. She has studied organisms ranging from the influenza virus to woolly mammoths, asking questions about extinctions, domestication, speciation, and pathogen evolution. In the 1990s, Shapiro began her career in ancient DNA at the University of Oxford, working alongside fellow researcher Eske Willerslev.

HENDRIK POINAR

Molecular evolutionary geneticist Henrik Poinar is the son of noted entomologist George Poinar and, as a student, was an author of research in the 1990s claiming to have recovered DNA from the age of dinosaurs. After these findings were invalidated, he emerged as one of the pioneers of the field of ancient DNA, training with future Nobel Laureate Svante Paabo in Germany before founding an ancient genomics lab at McMaster University. He has focused most of his career on the evolution of the immunology of plagues and the sequencing of ancient animal genomes.

ASTRID SCHMIDT

Biologist Astrid Schmidt was one of the earliest graduate students in the laboratory of Eske Willerslev, and she made some of the first attempts to recover DNA from Pliocene sediments sampled in northeast Greenland. When her efforts failed to yield results, she turned her back on research and devoted herself to science education, currently working as a lecturer in Citizen Science and Biodiversity for the teaching institute DIS Copenhagen.

MIKKEL WINTHER PEDERSEN

A close collaborator of Eske Willerslev, Pedersen was a PhD student when he was invited to attempt work on the “cursed” sediment samples from northeast Greenland. Unlike numerous researchers before him, he was able to harness new technologies to recover and sequence DNA at least two million years old, leading to the December 2022 breakthrough discovery of an entire ancient ecosystem in northern Greenland, published on the cover of Nature magazine. He is now leading research to reconstruct past environments in Colombia, Congo, Denmark, Mexico, North America, Scotland, Tanzania, United Kingdom, and China.

MAUREEN RAYMO

One of the world’s leading paleoclimatologists, she is a founder of the Columbia Climate School and the past Director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. She studies the history and causes of climate change in Earth’s past and has done pioneering work on the ice ages, geologic temperature records, and the causes of cooling and warming transitions in Earth’s past.

NIOBE THOMPSON

Writer, Director, Executive Producer

Anthropologist and filmmaker Niobe Thompson’s documentaries reach back to our human origins, explore the mysteries of evolution, and tackle the environmental dilemmas of the Anthropocene. After co-directing the 2022 feature doc Carbon – The Unauthorised Biography, his 2024 film Hunt for the Oldest DNA premieres at CPH:DOX. He is a three-time winner of Canada’s most prestigious award for science and nature documentaries: the Rob Stewart Award for “Best Science and Nature Program”. His films have been nominated for two Emmy Awards, and he produced the Sundance-winning short film “Fast Horse”. Niobe is the founding producer of British-Columbia based Handful of Films.

JOHN RUBIN

Executive Producer

John Rubin is executive producer at HHMI Tangled Bank Studios. Winner of a Peabody and four Emmys, Rubin turned to documentaries after earning his doctorate in cognitive science at MIT. He has produced, written, and directed films for the flagship PBS series Nature, American Experience, and nova. Rubin’s films often explore the intersection of natural history and science. At Tangled Bank, Rubin executive-produced The Farthest, Rise of the Mammals, The Gene Doctors, and the digital series I Contain Multitudes. The Farthest won an Emmy for Outstanding Science and Technology documentary, the National Academies’ Keck Communication Award, and the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism award.

SEAN B. CARROLL

Executive Producer

Sean B. Carroll is an internationally recognized biologist, award-winning author, and Emmy-winning executive producer. Carroll was the architect of HHMI’s filmmaking initiative, Tangled Bank Studios, to bring great stories about science and scientists to broad audiences. A frequent public speaker and prominent storyteller in print, in film, and on radio, Carroll has served as executive producer of more than 40 documentary, IMAX, and short films, including the Emmy-winning The Farthest and The Serengeti Rules and the BAFTA- and Oscar-nominated All That Breathes.

ATHAN MERRICK

Director of Cinematography

Athan Merrick is a western Canadian cinematographer with a background in lighting on big Hollywood productions and shooting adventure ski films. He made the transition from massive studio sets to chasing professional athletes with a 50-pound pack on his back in -20 Celsius weather in some of the most remote spots on Earth. He was raised among the desert vistas of New Mexico by artist parents and settled in the ocean and mountain wonderland of Vancouver Island, Canada. Merrick’s career highlights include a Canadian Society of Cinematographers award for his work on the art installation, Uninterrupted, as well as a Leo Award in 2018 (BC Film Awards) for his ski film, Numinous.

RYAN WILKES

Cinematographer

Ryan Wilkes is a multi-talented storyteller whose passion for science, adventure and conservation is reflected in his work as a cinematographer and photographer. His diverse background, which includes a PhD in Bioengineering and experience as a materials scientist, gives him a unique perspective when it comes to communicating complex scientific topics in an accessible and engaging way. Ryan has shot on all seven continents and his cinematography can be seen in multiple documentaries currently in production with major networks including CBC, PBS and ARTE. He has received several awards for his independent short documentaries and is an alumnus of the Jackson Wild Media Lab and the Being Black in Canada filmmaking program.

BRUCE ALCOCK

Animation and Art Director

As a director and creative director for over three decades, Bruce Alcock’s award-winning films, television series, interactive projects, and hundreds of international commercials have earned him accolades worldwide. His varied work includes films such as Impromptu, 54 Hours, and At the Quinte Hotel, as well as Jam Van, a preschool music series for YouTube Originals; Scribbles & Ink, a PBS hybrid narrative drawing app; and Far Away from Far Away, a National Film Board of Canada interactive project. Alcock co-founded three animation studios: Cuppa Coffee (Toronto), Tricky Pictures (Chicago), and Global Mechanic (Vancouver). Working in a mix of physical and digital techniques, Alcock is, above all, an experimental artist. He loves to blend commercial and artistic streams of production, combining professional rigor and creative abandon to make truly original work.

JONATHAN KAWCHUK

Composer

Jonathan Kawchuk is a Canadian composer and sound artist, notably having scored Carbon: The Unauthorized Biography and episodes of David Suzuki’s “The Nature of Things.” His work spans theatre, film, and sound installations and he has worked on albums for Nico Muhly and Ben Frost, and studied field recording under Chris Watson. An alumnus of several music residencies, he is a Grammy voting member, recording artist on Paper Bag Records, and the Canadian representative for acoustic conservation non-profit Quiet Parks International. His upcoming work includes the scores for Send Kelp! (2023) and Before the Ice (2024).

JAY MACMILLAN

Editor

JEN RANDALL
Editor

TIMOTHY SYMES

Editor

Halcyon Post is a film editing collective owned and operated in Squamish, BC by founders Jay Macmillan, Tim Symes and Jen Randall. They are known for creating meaningful documentaries, branded films, and commercial content with narrative clarity, cinematic quality and creative soul.

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