Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know

The quest to understand the most mysterious object in the universe.

Directed by Peter Galison

Produced by Sandbox Films, Collapsar

A visually stunning, intellectually rigorous exploration of black holes that weaves observational science, theoretical physics, and philosophical inquiry into a meditation on the limits of human knowledge.

Black holes stand at the limit of what we can know. To explore that edge of knowledge, the Event Horizon Telescope links observatories across the world to simulate an earth-sized instrument. With this tool the team pursues the first-ever picture of a black hole, resulting in an image seen by billions of people in April 2019. Meanwhile, Hawking and his team attack the black hole paradox at the heart of theoretical physics—Do predictive laws still function, even in these massive distortions of space and time? Weaving them together is a third strand, philosophical and exploratory using expressive animation. “Edge” is about practicing science at the highest level, a film where observation, theory, and philosophy combine to grasp these most mysterious objects.