Films 2012

When the bark beetle population exploded in the Bavarian Forest National Park in the 1980’s and the National Parks Administration refrained deliberately from practicing pest control, this decision had far-reaching effects. Within a few short years, several thousand acres of old, formerly commercially useful European spruce trees died off in the upper reaches of the forest. But then a miracle occurred. From the bark beetles’ path of destruction grew a new forest, more diverse and colorful than the former commercial forest had ever been before. Barely 30 years after the beetle-infestation, the idea of “Let Nature take its course”, propagated by the National Park Administration, can now at last prove its success.

The puma is one of the most impressive but also one of the shyest animals of Patagonia. He is also an important component of an intact ecological system. This powerful wild cat not just only regulates the stocks of herbivores, they are also on the top of the food chain from which other animals profit a lot. Even though the puma is a protected species, they are hunted mercilessly. The Torres del Paine National Park is one of the few areas where the puma can find an intact naturally environment. Here they are able to hunt undisturbed and raise their cubs. In the rythm of seasons the film documented the life of a young puma with her three cubs.  In one of the most beautiful landscapes of the world  the camera accompanies the puma family – starting with the first meat meal of the  two months old cubs – to their way of growing up and pass their first successful hunt.

Hidden in the heart of densely populated central Europe is a little known wild secret. Here in a pristine swath of forested wetlands live the very last wild horses on the European continent. These few hundred survivors, known as the Dülmen horses, with their unique “eel” back stripes and zebra-like leg markings, live as they have for millennia. Beautiful and untamed, these animals are our last window into how horses live in the wild, their traits selected by nature rather than human breeding. This film reveals all aspects of the Dülmen herd’s existence, as well as the many fascinating species that share with them the rare and disappearing wooded wetlands of Central Europe.

In this intimate documentary, the film-maker makes a pilgrimage to the central United States where the annual spring migration of the sandhill cranes occurs along the Platte river. As she makes this journey the author compares the migration to her own transformation as she turns forty. The film interweaves facts about this most elegant of birds with existential questions that tend to resonate around the midpoint of our lives. The sandhill crane is a bird species known to mate for life; it is one of the oldest living birds and, as such, might have some things to teach us about our ability, or inability, to find a lifelong mate. The film features spectacular footage of these ancient birds and various landscapes of the route from Montana, the author’s home, to the Platte river in central Nebraska.

The Kenyan capital of Nairobi combines opposites. This metropolis with three million inhabitants is among the most modern of cities on the African continent. At the same time, the Nairobi National Park begins practically at Nairobi’s doorstep. This is the boundary where raw wilderness and human civilization meet: just outside the city limits, a simple chain-link fence marks the edge of the Park where lions, hyenas, giraffes and rhinos roam through the grass. The film shows how humans and wild animals – side by side, and sometimes face to face – are sharing life in the big city.