The best version of this film ends outside.

You do not need to become an astronomer, buy anything or wait for perfect weather. Turn some lights off. Give your eyes time. Take somebody with you.

Between the glow and the dark · Act Two

TONIGHT

You don’t need the film for this bit.

The stars are still there. They’re there over your house right now. We’ve just put something brighter in front of them.

01
Turn things off.
Go outside. Turn off the lights behind you first, the porch light, the hallway, the kitchen.
02
Wait.
Give your eyes twenty minutes. This is the hard part and it is the whole trick.
03
Take someone.
Your child, your partner, a neighbour, or your pet. The point is not to do it alone.
04
Use red light.
If you need a torch, switch it to red. You can see without throwing away the dark your eyes have adjusted to.
05
Leave the phone.
One look at a bright screen and your eyes begin adapting again.
06
Look back at the house.
Is the light pointing down? Is it warm? Does it need to be on all night?

A child points into the evening sky while being held by an adult — Looking up together · Act Three

The Milky Way above a dark campsite with a softly lit tent below — The sky after waiting · Act Three

“The longer you let your eyes adapt to the darkness, the longer you just stay there and soak it all in, the more things you’ll spot and the more things between the things.”
Tiffany Francis-Baker · in the film

HOST A SCREENING

Show the film. Then open the door.

Free for schools, community groups and non-profits. Happy to join by video, or in person in the south of England.

Show the film, then take everyone out and look up. It takes twenty minutes for eyes to adapt, and the film spends its whole running time getting an audience ready to wait that long.

Village halls, observatories, schools, libraries, dark-sky reserves, astronomical societies and back gardens all work. Cloudy nights are fine. Going outside together in the dark is the point.

01
Get in touch
Tell me where you are, roughly how many people, and when.
02
Show the film
Twenty-two minutes. A short discussion guide can come with it.
03
Then go outside
Lights off, twenty minutes, look up. Red torches help. Clear skies are a bonus.

Request a screening Download discussion guide · PDF

A projected Milky Way stretches across a dark planetarium dome — A sky brought indoors · Act Two

“It is, as we’ve said, something that brings us together. And that I think is something worth fighting for.”
Robert Massey · in the film

The Milky Way above a dark coastal horizon — The sky beyond the glow · Act Three

A small telescope in a warmly lit room — Learning where to look · Act One

FREE TO DOWNLOAD

The Archer and the Dark

The bedtime story from the film, told whole. An archer who could hunt by starlight, a fire the villagers built too high, and a dog who went missing when the stars went out.

It takes about six minutes to read aloud. It never mentions light pollution, but by the end a four-year-old will have worked out what happened, and why.

A4 · 7-PAGE PDF · AGES 3–7, AND THE ADULT READING IT

Download the story · PDF

“We can’t find each other any more,” said the glow-worms. “Your fire is brighter than we are.”
From the story

Two people holding one another while watching the sunset from a hill — A memory made together · Act Two

“When people come together and they’re spending time under dark skies, with family, with friends, or with others, they create very memorable moments for people.”
Chris Barnes · in the film

USEFUL PLACES