Nova | The Origami Revolution – Documentary
The Origami Revolution is a 2017 PBS documentary about origami and folding in nature and science. It explores how this ancient art is now leading to a modern scientific revolution across disciplines.
Directed by Sarah Holt & François-Xavier Vives, the special premiered on February 16th as Episode 5 in Season 44 of the PBS show NOVA.
The Origami Revolution
I quite enjoyed this documentary and think it is very appropriately named. It is another mind-expanding exploration of the applications of Origami in the real world by PBS, a fitting follow-up to the very popular Between The Folds, which predates this by nearly a decade.
While that film delved more into the art and craft of origami as a paper-based technique, this NOVA program focuses more on scientific theories and techniques which are inspired by paper folding or using the same concepts to move technologies forward.
It’s a fascinating topic, and I discovered several applications and theories which I had never come across before. The science nerd in me is very pleased.
The Origami Revolution on NOVA – Documentary Info
‘The rules of folding are at the heart of many natural phenomena, from how leaves blossom to how beetles fly. But now, engineers and designers are applying its principles to reshape the world around us—and even within us, designing new drugs, micro-robots, and future space missions. With this burgeoning field of origami-inspired-design, the question is: can the mathematics of origami be boiled down to one elegant algorithm—a fail-proof guidebook to make any object out of a flat surface, just by folding?’1
The Origami Revolution on NOVA
2017
Writer/Director/Producer
Sarah Holt
Director
for FACT+FILM
François-Xavier Vives
Executive Producer
Paula Apsell
Editor
Sarah Holt
Mark Mossmann
François-Xavier Vives
Directors of Photography
Emmanuel Roy
Stephen McCarthy
Narration
Jamie Effros
Music
Hilde Kappes2
Featuring
Daniel Aukes, David Baker, Aaron Chevalier, Erik Demaine, Vincent Floderer, Larry Howell, Yves Klett, Kaori Kuribayashi-Shigetomi, Robert Lang, L. Mahadevan, Mark Neyrinck, Tomohiro Tachi, Robert Wood
The Origami Revolution trailer
Watch this 2 minute clip about how origami patterns are found in nature by the team of The Origami Revolution documentary on the YouTube account of NOVA (PBS). It’s playable below.
Here are more clips on YouTube
Watch Nova: The Origami Revolution PBS special Streaming Online
Origami Revolution DVD

The Origami Revolution is also available as a DVD as Nova : Secrets of Origami
https://amzn.to/4fdaV30