The premiere of a research film will take place on Wednesday, October 9, 2019, at the Helmholtz Center GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam. The film shows processes by which both geological and biological forces form the Earth’s surface. The Chilean coastal mountains, where there is a climate and vegetation gradient ranging from the driest desert on the Earth to a wet rainforest, are a good location for investigating these two fundamentally different influences. The large differences in plant growth are an indication of the biological influences. Three professors from Freie Universität Berlin – Friedhelm von Blanckenburg, Anne Bernhardt, and Dirk Scherler – as well as six doctoral candidates are involved in the German-Chilean project combining Earth sciences and life sciences. The film was created in cooperation with the Filmbüro Potsdam. It will be shown in both a German and an English version. The film screenings and the discussion with the film team on the Telegrafenberg Potsdam are public. Admission is free.