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Go on a trip around the multiverse with the winner of the Quantum Shorts 2012 film competition, and take in some other funky quantum effects too

APPLY human ingenuity to the ultimate in weird natural phenomena and you can expect some crazy stuff. That’s exactly what you’ll find in the , run by the Singapore-based Centre for Quantum Technologies in partnership with 91av.

The challenge was to create a 3-minute film around the theme of quantum theory. Some 50 people chose to accept the mission, and the results are stunning.

The winner is , made by GLeNKTV, about a woman forced to flee her universe to find proof of her identity. Fortunately, she’s armed with a “really smart phone” and a parallel universe app. Weirder still, it’s all done in stop-frame animation, with the characters resembling villains from Mad Max 2 and one of the aliens from that bar scene in .

The production values are reminiscent of a 1980s kids’ TV show imbued with drama. The script is funny and in places delightful. “Computers are so advanced they look like bananas,” says our heroine. It might be a non sequitur here, but in another universe, who knows? Subtitles for the alien are a nice touch, and the maxim, “it’s a small multiverse… until you have to clean it” has become an earworm.

Go take a look. And check out some of the others, including the runners-up. is a love story enabled by superposition and quantum tunnelling. And Heisenberg eavesdrops on two young women discussing their sex lives with the eponymous hero: “Heisenberg, you’ve got the momentum, but your position’s way off!”

I can’t promise you’ll learn about quantum physics, but you’ll certainly smile.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Quantum Shorts”