If human-made extinction was a choreography, this is how we have performed it. The great auk was the original penguin, but left the surface of the Earth in the mid-19th century. The filmmaker travels around to meet various people and places with a connection to the extinct bird, from the home of the author of The Great Auk in England to the old zoological museum in Copenhagen, where the entrails of the last two great auks are kept in glass jars. Through their stories and observations we look back on the life of a species that will never return.

Choreographies towards loss is a sensory exploration of loss, and can be described as a requiem for an extinct animal. The film reflects on the emptiness that strikes us when a species goes extinct, and depicts the gap that becomes visible when several disappear at the same time. Through its slow tempo and repetitive nature, the film invites us into a meditative sphere where historical fate transforms into personal loss. The great auk represents not only the past but also the contemporary extinction of species disappearing from both our vision and consciousness.