Stories and films
Thirty seconds, one big idea.
Short animated films about the world and the people in it: ideas worth arguing about, small human moments, and what an ordinary day looks like somewhere else. A new one every day, made to start a conversation.
The latest films
Why not just drop a camera into the deepest sea?
The deepest sea is about 11 kilometres down, and sunlight gives up after the first one. How we still get pictures back from the bottom.
Batman gets on a metro. Who stands up?
In a metro experiment, more people offered a pregnant-looking woman a seat when someone dressed as Batman was on board. A surprise seems to wake us from autopilot.
How different is your DNA from mine?
Two people in Brazil and South Africa talk on a live voice call. Then we line up their DNA and see how much of it matches.
Does cracking your knuckles cause arthritis?
One doctor cracked the knuckles of one hand for sixty years to test the old warning. Did your parents warn you too?
Who lived closer to T. rex, you or Stegosaurus?
Stegosaurus, T. rex, Cleopatra, mammoths, Oxford and Tenochtitlan: how long the story of time really is, and how late we arrived.
Have you ever really touched anything?
What you feel as touch is electric repulsion between electrons. Your atoms never meet the way we picture it.
More trees on Earth or stars in our galaxy?
Earth has about 3 trillion trees; the Milky Way has about 100 to 400 billion stars. That is at least seven trees per star.
Replace every part. Still the same ship?
The Ship of Theseus, an old thought experiment: if every part is replaced, is it still the same thing? Your red blood cells live about 120 days.
Where did your atoms come from?
Most of your body was made inside old stars. A thirty second trip from a supernova to your left hand.
You say "Alright?" in the rain. What comes back?
The usual British opener, in the drizzle. On the other end of the call, a voice with a very different idea of weather talk.
What odd thing did your dad do at dinner?
Defne asks four people in four countries the same question about their own dads. Four dads, four dinner rituals, and the last one wins.
One empty seat, one small question
A full cafe, one empty seat and an old lady who would rather stay and chat.
I called someone in Nigeria. Her habit?
One tap, one live voice in another country, and a small habit that turns out to be universal. Inspired by real conversations.
Dad never replaces anything, not even this cup
Repaired every single thing until it absolutely had to be replaced. Does your dad do this too?
The quietest dad has the loudest sneeze
Tavita in Samoa asks a voice in Antarctica one question: do all dads sneeze like this? Same sneeze, two ends of the world.
She loves when the lift is late
Greta huffs every time the lift in Berlin is slow. One call with Leo, a removal man in Gothenburg, changes what a slow lift is for.
Every film ends where a conversation starts
Each film takes one idea, a thought experiment, a piece of science, a habit that turns out to be universal, and tells it in thirty seconds. The last line is always a question, because the best part of a big idea is who you get to talk about it with.
Some films get talked about more than the others. Those get a page of their own, with the idea explained and its sources: Replace every part. Still the same ship?.
On Mindfuse that person is a real voice somewhere else in the world. One tap, no profile, and you can ask them what they make of it. The films are also where you will see how a call feels before you make one.
New films arrive every day on our YouTube channel, on Instagram and on TikTok. Want to know more about the places in them? Read about everyday life around the world.
The stories
Finland and Brazil
First Shovel
Bruna, new in Finland, waves at her old neighbour every morning. He never waves back. Then she sees what he does at 5 am.
Kazakhstan and India
Night Train
On a night train across Kazakhstan, an old woman will not stop staring at a young traveller from India. Then she reaches into her bag.
Every culture says hello its own way
A plate of food held out on a night train. A path cleared in the snow before sunrise. Kindness speaks a lot of languages, and most of them do not need words.
These stories are about the moment someone from far away stops feeling far away. Underneath the customs, people are more alike than they look. It is the same moment that happens every day on Mindfuse, when two people in different countries pick up and hear each other for the first time.
Every conversation keeps its own story
The films are animated. The conversations on Mindfuse are real. After every call of a minute or more, the app draws a Weave: a 1 of 1 artwork made from the rhythm of your two voices, the silences and the hour on each side of the world. Never from your words, and calls are never recorded.
So every real conversation leaves its own picture behind. Curious where to start? Talk to the world has guides and good first questions, and the Daily Fuse is the hour a day when the most people are on.
Your story starts with hello.
A voice call with a real person somewhere else in the world. Your first 3 days are unlimited. After that, one free conversation a day, whether you start it or answer it.
No profile, voice only. Real people, not AI.