I am one man among seven billion others. For the past 40 years, I have been photographing our planet and its human diversity, and I have a feeling that humanity is not making any progress. We are not yet ready to live together. Why is that? I did not look for an answer in statistics or analysis, but in mankind itself. It is in faces, gazes, and words that I find today a powerful way of reaching the depths of the human soul. Each encounter brings you a step closer. Each story is unique. By immersing myself in the life experience of others, I was in search of understanding. Do we all have the same thirst for love, freedom and recognition? In a world torn between tradition and modernity, do our fundamental needs remain the same? Deep down, what does it mean to be human today? What is the meaning of life? Are our differences so great? Do we, in fact, share more values than we might have imagined? And if so, why can we not manage to understand one another? I wanted to ask these questions and discuss humanity: an insanely utopian gamble. My crew and I approached the task with a great deal of humility. In the course of two years, we visited 60 countries and recorded some 2,020 interviews reaching out to as many people as possible –to those we talk about and especially to those we never talk about. Those who for the first time shared their life-stories. I dreamed of a film in which the power of the words resonates, echoes the beauty of the world. By putting humanity’s ills – poverty, war, immigration, homophobia – at the heart of the film, I made some politically engaged choices. But these men and women spoke to us about all topics, from their difficulties in growing up to their search for love and happiness. It is this vast wealth of human discourse which lies at the heart of Human. This film carries the voice of all the men and women who confided their stories to me. The film becomes their messenger. I made the film I dreamed of; my dearest wish now is that everyone takes possession of it in their own way, organizes screenings, and advocates for harmoniously Living Together!

I imagined this film for the big screen and I think that it is in the ambience of the movie theater that Human finds its fullest meaning.

• Testimonies from the crew •

Yann Arthus-Bertrand, director

I built my team like a family, a community of perspectives and desires with people who have strong beliefs and are aware of making a difficult and fascinating film about life.

Françoise Bernard and Anne-Marie Sangla, editors

“Put in everything that is powerful!” Yann would say to us. So we had to organize the powerful and the sensitive, the singular and the universal, the different and the identical. Recounting death and happiness, war and forgiveness, poverty and the reasons behind all this; recounting Humanity. And then we had to alternate between time for watching and time for listening, time for thinking and time for receiving. A face, a location a word, a piece of music. Editing is also a matter of saying goodbye, of keeping this rather than that. It is a sensitive and subjective business. And then sometimes it is just so obvious, an image which reaches beyond, which unites us, or which scares us, one we would rather not have seen. We put all that in the film. There is Yann, there is them, there is all of us. A mind-blowing experience.

Anne-Claire Decaux, assistant editor

If Yann’s wish in Human was to depict humanity, the first step was to collect the material to construct this edifice. Thus, for over 18 months, first assistant editor Maeva Issico and I would continually receive rushes filmed all around the world –overwhelming, astonishing testimonies or sublime aerial footage. We handled the technical management of this material, but we also had the privilege, and enriching experience, to screen this uninterrupted flow of poetic or disquieting images, and to listen to these hundreds of hours of testimonies, which was always enriching. Like archaeologists, and in order to facilitate the next stage of editing, we took charge of referencing each answer and flagging essential sequences. Then all elements were gathered to write this unique story that is our own, a shared story as much as an individual one.

Armand Amar, composer

I was gripped by traditional music. It is music that moves me, and has a direct relationship with one’s emotions. For Human, my idea was to construct a kind of resonance with the interviews through a song that would deliver the same emotion. I wanted things to open up, for our hearts to open up, for sadness to open up and for there to be no holding back. Human was one of the rare moments in my career making music for movies where I could express all these different cultures, and work both with minimalist music and at the same time with all these musicians and singers from elsewhere.

Bruno Cusa, Chief camera operator, aerial photography

When Yann sees a place, he immediately knows what he wants to get out of it. I try to adapt to his unique approach bringing out emotions through graphics or beauty. Sometimes, it is an majestic site that has already been filmed or photographed thousands of times, but often, it is a place that might appear insignificant to anyone else, but Yann turns it into something sublime through his imagery. We use a helicopter-mounted Cineflex camera system that offers great stability and wonderful image quality, even with the very long focal lengths that Yann particularly likes.

Yazid Tizi, Head of aerial photography

I was very privileged to be able to work on the aerial shoots where every image is a poem and every story a battle. All the problems involved in the preparation and production process just disappear when you come back satisfied by a unique professional experience that is full of other people’s hopes.